FreedomWorks - Lower Taxes, Less Government, More Freedomhttp://www.freedomworks.org/feed
enObamaCare's co-op programs aren't meeting enrollment goals, losing millions of dollars http://www.freedomworks.org/content/obamacares-co-op-programs-arent-meeting-enrollment-goals-losing-millions-dollars
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/ObamaCare-wheels.png?itok=fjObMKri"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/ObamaCare-wheels.png?itok=fjObMKri" width="480" height="376" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>When the so-called "public option" single-payer healthcare program was scrapped during the legislative "debate" over ObamaCare in 2009, lawmakers working on the bill created the <a href="https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Programs-and-Initiatives/Insurance-Programs/Consumer-Operated-and-Oriented-Plan-Program.html">Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Program</a> as a compromise. The non-profit co-op program is meant to compete with private, for-profit health insurance plans in the individual and small group markets. The 2010 healthcare law provided $3.4 billion in start-up funding to help get the program off the ground.</p>
<p>Well, the 23 op-ops that were subsequently created as a result of ObamaCare are in serious financial trouble, according to <a href="http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/51400055.pdf">a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General</a>. The audit found that 21 co-ops were losing money as of the end of 2014 and 13 are not meeting enrollment projections. These problems could put at risk the repayment of $2.4 billion in taxpayer-backed loans from the Department of Health and Human Services.</p>
<p>"We determined that 21 of the 23 reviewed CO-OPs incurred net losses from January 1 through December 31, 2014," <a href="http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region5/51400055.pdf">the report notes</a>. "More than half of the 23 CO-OPs had net losses of at least $15 million for this period. For 19 of the [21] CO-OPs with net losses, claims’ expense exceeded premium revenue for this period. The remaining CO-OPs with net losses reported higher premium revenues than claims’ expense, but revenue was insufficient to meet general administrative expenses."</p>
<p>The 21 co-ops lost a total of $382,099,933. The Kentucky Health Cooperative took the hardest hit, incurring losses of more than $50.4 million. Wisconsin's Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative was a distant second, losing over $36.5 million. Health Republic Insurance of New York was not far behind, at nearly $35.2 million in the red. Maine's co-op, Maine Community Health Options, was the only one that did not lose money.</p>
<p>Data for Iowa and Nebraska's joint co-op, CoOportunity, was not reported; however, the Iowa Insurance Commissioner <a href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2014/12/24/cooportunity-health-taken-iowa-insurance-division/20856151/">took control of it</a> because it was in deep financial trouble. The co-op <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/state-regulator-to-shut-down-insurer-cooportunity-health-1422052829">was shut down</a> earlier this year. Tennessee's co-op, which lost $22.1 million, also faced problems. Enrollment <a href="http://www.healthcarepayernews.com/content/hix-enrollment-frozen-co-op-preventive-measure">was halted in January</a>, during the 2015 open enrollment period. The Community Health Alliance <a href="https://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2015/5/21/health_insurance_co_op_files_for_32_rate_increase">has filed a 32 percent rate hike</a> with Tennessee's insurance commissioner.</p>
<p>Nearly all co-ops were expected to lose money in 2014, but 19 exceeded projected losses, in most cases by millions of dollars. The losses cast doubt on income projections for 2015 and 2016.</p>
<p><img src="http://i.imgur.com/Pz3FCV5.png" alt="HHS OIG CO-OP Income Projections" /></p>
<p>The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which, along with the Department of Health and Human Services, oversees much of ObamaCare's implementation, has warned some co-ops that they are in jeopardy of being shuttered. "CMS recently placed four CO-OPs on enhanced oversight or corrective action plans, and two CO-OPs on low-enrollment-warning notifications," the report explains. "CMS will have to assess these CO-OPs to determine whether they are viable and sustainable and continue to serve the interests of their communities and the goals of the CO-OP program."</p>
<p>While the loans the co-ops received from the federal government are supposed to be paid back, the report raises doubt whether many of them ever will make good on their obligations to taxpayers. Thanks, ObamaCare!
<img src="http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv907uufDD1qieqgu.gif" alt="headdesk" /><!-- Images --></p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 31 Jul 2015 20:17:27 +0000jpye61760 at http://www.freedomworks.orgFreedomWorks At YALCON 2015!http://www.freedomworks.org/content/freedomworks-yalcon-2015
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/unnameddddssfsfsfs.jpg?itok=_0MQTn_d"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/unnameddddssfsfsfs.jpg?itok=_0MQTn_d" width="360" height="480" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/1_32.jpg?itok=YHeW8RQL"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/1_32.jpg?itok=YHeW8RQL" width="480" height="360" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/unnamedddddddd_0.jpg?itok=P7ZeMxqq"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/unnamedddddddd_0.jpg?itok=P7ZeMxqq" width="360" height="480" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/SSS.jpg?itok=qhRtROQa"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/SSS.jpg?itok=qhRtROQa" width="360" height="480" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/llll.jpg?itok=0_lWo36N"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/llll.jpg?itok=0_lWo36N" width="360" height="480" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/unnamedddddddddddddddddd.jpg?itok=EPuZ1RsU"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/unnamedddddddddddddddddd.jpg?itok=EPuZ1RsU" width="480" height="360" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>From July 29 to August 1, FreedomWorks went over to the Catholic University of America campus, where <a href="http://www.yaliberty.org/convention/2015">Young Americans for Liberty</a> was hosting their 2015 annual national convention in the heart of Washington, DC. At the convention, several hundred liberty minded students, ranging from the ages of 17 to 25, descended onto our nations capital from every corner of our nation to learn, network, and discuss what they can do to help promote economic freedom and individual liberty in their lifetime.</p>
<p>During the event, FreedomWorks tabled at the convention hall where our staff dispersed tons of free pocket constitutions, bumper magnets, and other cool give-away items to help promote our organization, while talking one on one with the students about who we are as an organization and how they too can become a FreedomWorks activist and help promote liberty in their communities as well.</p>
<p>To help promote the key issues FreedomWorks focuses on, we handed out several hundred copies our <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/issue/justice-reform">civil asset forfeiture and mandatory minimum sentencing</a> packets in order to promote our current initiative for justice reform; while continuing to spread the word about our continued efforts against <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/issue/health-care-reform">Obamacare</a> and <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/campaign/common-core">Common Core</a>. Additionally, in order to promote <a href="https://instagram.com/freedomworks/">FreedomWorks new Instagram account</a>, our staff gave limited edition FreedomWorks shirts to everyone who followed us, boosting our numbers by several hundred new followers by the end of the first day alone!</p>
<p>Many of the students that came over to talk to the FreedomWorks crew have at one point or another held events on their campus related to some of FreedomWorks core issues. One YAL member hosted an event where they had a giant sign which showed the current US debt, and from there discussed the rampant amount of unconstitutional spending taking place everyday. One student even planned on starting a blog targeting college age students discussing the growing issues surrounding Common Core and education reform throughout the country.</p>
<p>Needless to say, it was incredibly impressive and uplifting to hear how millennials from around the country are taking an open role in advocating for policies and practices that openly advocate for liberty in their communities and campuses.</p>
<p>FreedomWorks would like to say thanks to Young Americans for Liberty for giving us the chance to speak to a whole new generation of pro-liberty students who will go out into the world as adults and promote liberty in their lifetime!</p>
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</div></div></div>Fri, 31 Jul 2015 20:08:30 +0000Remso William Martinez61759 at http://www.freedomworks.orgMichigan police endorse reforms to protect innocent property owners from government overreachhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/michigan-police-endorse-reforms-protect-innocent-property-owners-government-overreach
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/1972532_G.jpg?itok=JXb4IT1E"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/1972532_G.jpg?itok=JXb4IT1E" width="480" height="306" alt="The Michigan Association of Police Organizations endorsed a package of reforms that would protect innocent people&#039;s property" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Abuse of civil asset forfeiture laws can harm law enforcement's vital relationships with communities, especially at a time when their activities are coming under heightened scrutiny. Realizing this, the Michigan Association of Police Organizations has endorsed a package of eight reform bills working through the Michigan Legislature that would overhaul the state's civil asset forfeiture laws to provide more protections for innocent property owners.</p>
<p>In a recent FreedomWorks' publication, <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/civil-asset-forfeiture-grading-states"><em>Civil Asset Forfeiture: Grading the States</em></a>, Michigan received a "D" for its current civil asset forfeiture laws. While the burden of proof, unlike most states, does fall on the government, the standard of evidence to forfeit property is far too low. With several <a href="http://www.mlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/07/michigan_forfeiture_laws_must.html">examples</a> of <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/02/22/civil-asset-forfeiture-michigan-seizures-aclu-heritage-foundation-institute-justice/23737663/">abuse</a> of the laws <a href="http://www.metrotimes.com/Blogs/archives/2014/10/07/john-oliver-revisits-the-funkiest-shakedown-in-human-history-the-caid-raid">circulating</a> in the <a href="http://reason.com/archives/2015/06/01/armed-robbers-with-badges-they-took-ever">media</a>, Michigan House Republicans <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/republicans-michigan-legislature-make-private-property-protections-priority">made reform a priority very early</a> in the legislative session.</p>
<p>The package of reforms <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/gop-controlled-michigan-house-passes-comprehensive-civil-asset-forfeiture-reform-package">passed the Michigan House of Representatives in June</a> by mostly overwhelming margins. The package includes legislation to raise the standard of evidence required of the government to subject property to forfeiture from "a preponderance of evidence" to "clear and convincing evidence" and heightens transparency and uniformity in state civil asset forfeiture laws.</p>
<p>In a statement released on Thursday, the Michigan Association of Police Organizations, a group representing more than 10,000 law enforcement officers, endorsed the proposed reforms. "MAPO supports passage of the Uniform Forfeiture Reporting Act and the Civil Asset Forfeiture revisions that are part of House Bills 4499-4500 and House Bills 4503-4508," MAPO President Richard Weiler and Vice President Michael Sauger wrote in a statement. "Law enforcement works best when working in partnership with the communities being served. Any enforcement activities viewed as 'policing for profit' do unnecessary damage to that important relationship."</p>
<p>While they defended civil asset forfeiture as a tool "to attack illegal behavior," Weiler and Sauger called the package "a reasonable, measured approach to improving transparency in forfeiture activities and diminishes the 'policing for profit' perception that has attached to this issue."</p>
<p>"Please add our organization to the list of those supporting this legislative effort," they added.</p>
<p>The Michigan Association of Police Organizations' backing comes at an important time. The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge), <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/reforms-protect-innocent-property-owners-government-overreach-awaiting-action-michigan">has stalled on the package of reforms</a>. Last month, Jones, who has a law enforcement background, conceded that "some reforms are needed," but he demurred on action. "I want to sit down with the Attorney General and go over each bill," he said, "and make sure we accomplish what the purpose of the bill is."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fixforfeiture.org/">Fix Forfeiture</a>, of which FreedomWorks is a partner, praised the news. "Today, we welcome an important ally to the effort to reform civil asset forfeiture laws in Michigan. Fix Forfeiture applauds the MAPO endorsement of the reform bills moving through the state legislature," Holly Harris, executive director of Fix Forfeiture, <a href="http://www.fixforfeiture.org/fix-forfeiture-applauds-michigan-association-of-police-organizations-mapo-endorsement-of-house-civil-asset-forfeiture-package/">said in a release</a>. “This well respected law enforcement organization understands that in a democracy, there is always a need to improve aspects of our criminal justice system and is supportive of this approach to improve transparency."</p>
<p>"We are encouraged by their public support and are grateful for their service to the people of Michigan. We will continue to reach out to law enforcement across the state to work hand-in-hand with them to pass reform," she added.</p>
<p>The package of reforms may not be perfect, but they are a step in the right direction. Michigan is on the cusp of doing something meaningful to protect innocent property owners from government overreach. It is great to see such a prominent law enforcement organization throw its weight behind this worthy effort to fix Michigan's civil asset forfeiture laws.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Michigan&#039;s forfeiture laws must change to protect the innocent</div></div></div>Fri, 31 Jul 2015 16:20:21 +0000jpye61758 at http://www.freedomworks.orgThe United States desperately needs justice reform, but it must be accomplished through Congresshttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/united-states-desperately-needs-justice-reform-it-must-be-accomplished-through-congress
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/prison_education1.jpg?itok=HFZOTd81"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/prison_education1.jpg?itok=HFZOTd81" width="480" height="350" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The Obama administration will, today, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/pell-grants-to-be-restored-for-prisoners-1438029241">unveil its plan</a> to restore federal funding for inmates to take college courses. The tool to be used is Pell grants, the main form of federal aid for low-income college students. The grants cover up to $5,775 a year in tuition, fees, books and other education related expenses.</p>
<p>Education has been a central component of justice reform at the state level. Prisoners are allowed access to privately funded programs, <a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/01/17/facts-figures-about-prison-entrepreneurship-program-teaching-texas-inmates/">such as the Prison Entrepreneurship Program in Texas</a>, to help them learn business skills so they will become productive members of society, rather than burdens on it.</p>
<p>The results are undeniable. Only 7 percent of Texas prisoners who have graduated from the Prison Entrepreneurship Program have re-entered the prison system. To put this in perspective, the repeat offender rate in Texas is 23 percent, which is far below the national average. The state's repeat offender rate, known as recidivism, <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2015/01/growth-in-federal-prison-system-exceeds-states">has dropped significantly</a> since the state's justice reforms were implemented in 2007.</p>
<p>Back to the idea of Pell grants for prisoners. In 1993, prisoners received $34 million in Pell grants, but a year later Congress blocked the grants from being used by any federal or state prison inmates. Currently, there are a limited number of college courses available for prisoners, most of which are provided through private funding.</p>
<p>Of course, one point that should be made is that lawmakers should look to end the cycle of crime and poverty before it starts. Allowing parents to have more control of their child's education, through policies such as school choice and charter schools, and eliminating big government mandates like Common Core could help children avoid precarious and troubled futures.</p>
<p>Details are not clear which institutions or types of prisoners will participate, but the study will likely last three to five years and could help thousands of prisoners. The money from the Pell grants would go to the institutions that provide the education, not the prisoners. The program will test the effectiveness of college courses in reducing the recidivism rate of prisoners.</p>
<p>The notion of providing Pell grants to prisoners is not without fiscal merit. A <a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR266.html">2013 study from the RAND Corporation</a> found that inmates who took education programing while in prison had a significantly lower rate of returning to prison, thereby reducing prison costs and the burden on taxpayers.</p>
<p>Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) has <a href="http://donnaedwards.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=784:edwards-introduces-pell-grants-for-prisoners-bill&amp;catid=10&amp;Itemid=18">introduced</a> the Restoring Education and Learning (REAL) Act, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2521">H.R. 2521</a>, that would permanently reinstate Pell grants for prisoners. But the administration is not going about this through legislation. Officials plan to use a provision in the Higher Education Act that gives the Department of Education authority to temporarily waive rules as part of an experiment to measure effectiveness.</p>
<p>There is cause of concern anytime an administrative action is used to achieve policy goals. Conservatives are understandably frustrated by the administration's use of executive power to go around Congress to accomplish its goals. This administrative action, as well as any future ones, could undermine the strong conservative support for justice reform that currently exists both inside and outside of Capitol Hill.</p>
<p>Despite the frequent disagreements in Washington, justice reform is one area where there is bipartisan support. There is tremendous momentum to get something big done this year. Regardless of the merits of this policy idea, the administration must actually restrain itself to avoid the cloud of controversy that will undoubtedly arise from this administration action. It could make it difficult to move justice reform through Congress, potentially squandering everything conservatives, libertarians, and progressives have worked so hard to accomplish.</p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 31 Jul 2015 15:15:07 +0000jpye61757 at http://www.freedomworks.org“Happy is the Man who Learns from the Misfortune of Others”http://www.freedomworks.org/content/%E2%80%9Chappy-man-who-learns-misfortune-others%E2%80%9D
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/index.jpg?itok=_mktD4TI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/index.jpg?itok=_mktD4TI" width="276" height="182" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>...or rather the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has a thing or two to learn from the failures of the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) as it moves forward with expanding the questionable Lifeline program to broadband.</p>
<p>Making his eighth appearance in just one year, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler once again went before the House Energy &amp; Commerce Telecom subcommittee earlier this week. Wheeler was present before the subcommittee as part of an oversight hearing to discuss concerns with the Commission’s continuing failures in establishing sound regulatory processes and transparency.</p>
<p>In his opening remarks, subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden addressed amongst other concerns with the Commission’s actions, the risks associated with the unstable expansion of the Lifeline program to broadband. A few weeks back, the FCC rushed a vote to extend Lifeline program subsidies to broadband, essentially providing internet at a reduced rate for people below the poverty line at the expense of taxpayers.</p>
<p><a href="http://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/republicans.energycommerce.house.gov/files/114/Hearings/CT/20150728/HHRG-114-IF16-MState-W000791-20150728.pdf">Chairman Walden warned</a>, “[a]ll one has to do is read today’s <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/broadband-coverage-rural-area-fund-mishandled-120601.html?hp=r4_4">story in Politico</a> regarding problems over at the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Service to understand why it is essential before any agency moves to spend money it should have tight control and a budget. Unfortunately for ratepayers, in a party line vote, the FCC decided to rush forward to expand the Lifeline program into broadband with little reform and no limit on the spending.”</p>
<p>The story Chairman Walden is referring to is an investigation into the government agency known as the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). This little known agency works to improve the lives of rural Americans; however, it is better known for mishandling several billion dollars of stimulus money, particularly in an attempt to expand broadband coverage to these hard to reach areas. Chairman Walden referenced the RUS as a perfect example of a government entity failing in its mission because it rushed an unstable project with weak policy reform and lack of sound financial budgeting reforms.</p>
<p>Back in September of 2011, Jonathan Alderstein promised on behalf of the RUS, that the agency would work to improve the lives of rural Americans. As a result, the RUS announced that it would use $3.5 billion in aid to expand high-speed internet access to rural areas, ultimately connecting roughly 7 million Americans including schools, healthcare facilities, and businesses.</p>
<p>However, the RUS has strayed from its mission, particularly in its funding efforts and the promise to bring broadband to rural Americans. This comes at no surprise, as demonstrated from its 80-year track record, that “nearly 300 projects RUS approved as part of the 2009 Recovery Act <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/broadband-coverage-rural-area-fund-mishandled-120601.html?hp=r4_4">have not yet drawn down the full amounts</a> they were awarded.” Further, “[m]ore than 40 of the projects RUS initially approved <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/broadband-coverage-rural-area-fund-mishandled-120601.html?hp=r4_4">never got started at all</a>.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/broadband-coverage-rural-area-fund-mishandled-120601.html?hp=r4_4">Investigations further revealed</a>, “[t]he checkered performance of the RUS offer an all-too-familiar story of an obscure federal agency that persists despite documented failures...The massive infusion of stimulus money, which required RUS to disperse record sums faster than it ever had before, further exposed its weaknesses-- troubles that in many ways remain unaddressed, despite repeated warnings--even as RUS continues lending.”</p>
<p>Mark Goldstein, an investigator at the Government Accountability Office <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/broadband-coverage-rural-area-fund-mishandled-120601.html?hp=r4_4">commented</a>, “[w]e are left with a program that spent $3 billion and we really don’t know what became of it.”</p>
<p>The moral of the story is the FCC would be wise in listening to Chairman Walden and let the RUS act as a cautionary tale for the Lifeline broadband expansion...or risk the same failures that seem to be inevitable with poorly planned federal giveaways.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lifeline Program expands to the internet</div></div></div>Fri, 31 Jul 2015 14:05:58 +0000emaitcheson61751 at http://www.freedomworks.orgNC Activists Support Rep. Mark Meadowshttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/nc-activists-support-rep-mark-meadows
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/1_31.jpg?itok=V4i9Epio"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/1_31.jpg?itok=V4i9Epio" width="395" height="480" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/2_29.jpg?itok=MJcEGPRM"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/2_29.jpg?itok=MJcEGPRM" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/3_28.jpg?itok=Dy86K_Zs"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/3_28.jpg?itok=Dy86K_Zs" width="480" height="438" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/4_24.jpg?itok=cfb1SjXH"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/4_24.jpg?itok=cfb1SjXH" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/5_14.jpg?itok=u3C1Fqp6"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/5_14.jpg?itok=u3C1Fqp6" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/6_10.jpg?itok=aPNUnOEf"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/6_10.jpg?itok=aPNUnOEf" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/7_8.jpg?itok=KaNn7vBI"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/7_8.jpg?itok=KaNn7vBI" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Over 20 activists showed up in Hendersonville, North Carolina to show their support for Congressman Mark Meadows! Check out pictures of the event in our photo gallery.</p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 30 Jul 2015 21:45:58 +0000Snake61756 at http://www.freedomworks.orgClock is Ticking on Entitlement Programshttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/clock-ticking-entitlement-programs
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/clock.jpg?itok=WAcyE0i5"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/clock.jpg?itok=WAcyE0i5" width="346" height="346" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Today marks the 50th Anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, which were signed into law on July 30, 1965 by President Lyndon Johnson. These programs, along with Social Security, are collectively referred to as entitlement programs and are taking up a growing proportion of the annual budget. This problem is overshadowed by an even larger danger for Medicare and Social Security: their trust funds are about to dry up.</p>
<p>The Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds recently released <a href="http://ssa.gov/oact/TR/2015/index.html">their annual report</a> on the financial status of the two programs. As expected, not much has changed from last year’s report, and the funds of both programs are expected to be depleted within the next 20 years. However, some of the funds are in more desperate need for attention than the others.</p>
<p>According to the report, the Social Security Disability Insurance fund is expected to be depleted next year. Under current law, once the funds are depleted, payments can only be made equal to the revenues for that year. The report finds that starting in 2016 the income for the program will be <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/policy/trust-funds-summary.html">equal to 81 percent of program costs</a>. Depletion of the fund will affect the 11 million Americans who currently collect DI payments.</p>
<p>“While legislation is needed to address all of Social Security’s financial imbalances, the need has become urgent with respect to the program’s disability insurance component,” reads the <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/">summary of the report</a>. “Lawmakers need to act soon to avoid automatic reductions in payments to DI beneficiaries in late 2016.”</p>
<p>One concern is that rather than address the problem of a depleted DI fund, Congress will simply combine the DI trust fund with the Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund. This action would do two things, neither of which would fix the problem of underfunded entitlement trust accounts.</p>
<p>First, combining the DI and OASI trust funds would move up the date of depletion of the OASI fund from 2035 to 2034. Second, combining the funds would only delay the inevitability of the funds’ failure and leave the problem for a future Congress to solve.</p>
<p>Rather, Congress should take this opportunity to institute real substantial changes that would ensure the feasibility of the trust funds. If Congress does nothing, or only combines the two Social Security trust funds, after 2034 the tax income will not be sufficient to pay a full quarter of all scheduled benefits.</p>
<p>The costs of the combined Social Security (OASDI) trust funds are expected to jump from 4.1 percent of GDP in 2007, to 6.0 percent of GDP in 2037. Likewise, benefits, as expressed by taxable earnings, are expected to increase from 11.3 percent in 2007 to 16.7 percent in 2038.</p>
<p>It is not just Social Security that is facing a funding shortfall; Medicare is in the same position. The Trustees project that the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will run out of funds in 2030. From that point revenues will be sufficient to pay only 86 percent of Hospital Insurance costs. This number will decrease to 80 percent in 2050.</p>
<p>The Trustees also project total Medicare expenditures to increase from 3.5 percent of GDP in 2014 to 5.4 percent of GDP in 2035.</p>
<p>The Trustees conclude: “Lawmakers should address the financial challenges facing Social Security and Medicare as soon as possible. Taking action sooner rather than later will permit consideration of a broader range of solutions and provide more time to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare.”</p>
<p>What Congress does, or does not do, to solve the problem with the shortfall in the DI Trust Fund will go a long way to show what it will do when the larger OASI and Medicare problem comes up. Rather than kicking the can down the road, Congress needs to address the insufficiencies of our entitlement programs and get them on a path of sustainability.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Progressives Seeking to Expand Social Security</div></div></div>Thu, 30 Jul 2015 17:31:45 +0000mgreibrok61750 at http://www.freedomworks.orgJustice reform can happen this year, and grassroots conservatives should lead the chargehttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/justice-reform-can-happen-year-and-grassroots-conservatives-should-lead-charge
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/081913 handcuff.JPG?itok=1WwvjxHn"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/081913 handcuff.JPG?itok=1WwvjxHn" width="480" height="297" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Over the past several weeks, President Barack Obama has increasingly spoke of the need to reform the United States' justice system. In mid-July, for example, he spoke at the NAACP's annual convention in Philadelphia and <a href="http://time.com/3958093/barack-obama-criminal-justice-reforms-naacp/">called for reform of costly and unjust mandatory minimum sentences</a> and, later, <a href="https://news.vice.com/article/president-obama-heads-to-prison-in-pursuit-of-criminal-justice-reform">appeared at a federal prison in Oklahoma</a> to further emphasize the need to overhaul the justice system to lower repeat offender rates.</p>
<p>Obama has been outspoken on this issue lately, but make no mistake, this is a conservative issue. Texas enacted meaningful justice reforms while Obama was still the junior Senator from Illinois.</p>
<p>Despite two full years of Democratic control of Congress, the most meaningful piece of justice reform legislation Obama signed during this time was the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/senate-bill/1789/">Fair Sentencing Act</a>, which, in 2010, passed both chambers without opposition. This important and worthy bill <a href="http://famm.org/projects/federal/us-congress/crack-cocaine-mandatory-minimum-sentences/">reduced the sentencing disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine</a> from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1.</p>
<p>Perhaps Obama felt that this was all he could get, especially after Republicans took control of the House in the 2010 midterm election. But since the Fair Sentencing Act became law, there has been significant momentum building for reform, and it is coming from unlikely partners on Capitol Hill. For example, <a href="http://dailysignal.com/2014/01/31/time-reconsider-mandatory-minimum-sentences/">Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)</a> have, for the second consecutive Congress, teamed up to introduce the Smarter Sentencing Act. This bill, <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/tell-your-members-congress-support-smarter-sentencing-act">which FreedomWorks supports</a>, would reduce mandatory minimums for nonviolent, low-level offenders and expand the "safety valve" exception to these sentences.</p>
<p>In addition to Lee, other conservatives -- including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) -- have realized that the status quo in the federal justice system is unsustainable and <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/9-facts-about-mandatory-minimums-and-smarter-sentencing-act">actually puts entire communities at risk</a>. That is why they have introduced or are supporting justice reforms that would make communities safe and save taxpayers money. Needless to say, justice reform is an issue conservatives can, and should, get behind.</p>
<p>Ultimately, justice reform is not a partisan issue, but rather one that transcends ideological boundaries. Conservatives should embrace justice reform as a way to cut costs, bring together families that <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/9-facts-about-mandatory-minimums-and-smarter-sentencing-act">have been ravaged by the current system</a>, and make our communities safer. As FreedomWorks has previously noted, conservative states, <a href="http://rightoncrime.com/category/state-initiatives/texas/">such as Texas</a>, have paved the way on this issue, proving that a smarter approach to crime works.</p>
<p>Before Obama ever stepped foot in the White House, Texas, in 2007, implemented the first of many justice reforms centered around programs that <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/conservative-states-focused-reducing-repeat-offender-rates-disrupt-cycle-crime-and-save">would reduce offenders' likelihoods of walking through prison doors again</a>. Realizing that corrections costs were soaring, and that the vast majority of offenders would be released, lawmakers started with <a href="http://rightoncrime.com/2011/05/texas-rehabilitation-programs-reduce-recidivism-rates/">an appropriation of $241 million</a> to provide drug treatment, education, and work training. They also focused on the reintegration of offenders into society by helping them find jobs and housing.</p>
<p>The long-term benefits were astounding. <a href="http://www.governing.com/news/state/mct-report-recidivism-rate-down.html">Repeat offender</a> and <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2015/01/growth-in-federal-prison-system-exceeds-states">crimes rates</a> dropped substantially, accomplishing a key goal, and legislators <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/savings-prison-reforms-texas-top-3-billion-crimes-rates-hit-lowest-point-1968">saved taxpayers $3 billions of dollars</a>, and actually <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30275026">closed three prisons</a>. Several other states -- including Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina -- have sought to emulate the success in Texas in their own way, and they have seen positive results.</p>
<p>Conservatives are, understandably, skeptical of President Obama and many of the policies he pushes. But conservatives should not be skeptical of justice reform, which is based on conservative ideas and has been enacted in conservative states. With <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/congress-must-address-out-control-spending-federal-bureau-prisons">a crisis of mismanagement and out of control spending</a> due to a federal prison population that has skyrocketed as a result of bad policies put in place by lawmakers from both parties, there is <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/congress/chuck-grassley-s-closer-than-ever-to-giving-in-on-mandatory-minimum-reform-20150728">a good chance</a> that these conservative reforms can pass Congress this year. The grassroots should lead the charge to make it happen.</p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:26:42 +0000jpye61748 at http://www.freedomworks.orgFreedom Art with Mal Luberhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/freedom-art-mal-luber
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/1_30.jpg?itok=6KLbAuG3"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/1_30.jpg?itok=6KLbAuG3" width="480" height="318" alt="Tea Party" /></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/3_27.jpg?itok=IXzKw7Zx"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/3_27.jpg?itok=IXzKw7Zx" width="480" height="357" alt="Chased by the Posse" /></div><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/2_28.jpg?itok=RsYUq0l3"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/2_28.jpg?itok=RsYUq0l3" width="480" height="348" alt="Semper Fi and Farewell My Brother" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Our July artist is quite the political firebrand in addition to being an accomplished artist. If you're looking for art with a message, your search is over. In addition to traditional themes and materials, Mal Luber has branched out into the realm of contemporary conceptual art.</p>
<p>Mal Luber, one of Connecticut’s most outstanding realist artists, has exhibited his western, equine, wildlife and figurative paintings and drawings in many leading museums and galleries throughout the country. His photorealistic drawings of people and animals have received critical acclaim wherever they have been exhibited, and have been purchased by several prestigious museums and for private collections.</p>
<p>For as long as he has been an artist, figurative art has been his primary focus. Over the past three decades he has been known for his large, photo-realistic drawings, commissioned portraits, and ethnic subject matter of inner city people, called "Portraits in the City," which have been exhibited in several major museums. Critics have called his work "remarkable", and have referred to him as an "artist with a camera’s eye".</p>
<p>In the series called “Fantasy / Graffiti” his work reflects a certain nostalgia for the New York and urban environments of the 60’s and 70’s, in which he built his artistic roots. Oversized canvases transport the viewer to rambunctious inner-city settings, where counter-culture figures confront and engage the audience. This graffiti imagery is not meant as a mere adornment to enhance the hardcore atmosphere of the inner city compositions. It also reflects symbolic codes and challenges to the overbearing power structure and the politically correct world in which we live. As such, his newest work reflects political commentary on social &amp; political events.</p>
<p>His visual compositions often include messages meant to engage the viewer, and hopefully prompt them to think, as well as to enjoy the artistic merit of the composition</p>
<p>Whether it's the human form, horses, wildlife, or fantasy images, Mal Luber is an artist in command of his mediums, and who possesses a keen awareness of how to create a powerful and memorable image.</p>
<p>Check out his website at <a href="http://malluberart.com/">malluberart.com</a></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">See More at Liberatchik</div></div></div>Thu, 30 Jul 2015 15:11:29 +0000Frances Byrd61749 at http://www.freedomworks.orgFive Steps for Firing the Speakerhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/five-steps-firing-speaker
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/PLC15004_BoehnerFiringthumb.png?itok=dska0UlJ"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/PLC15004_BoehnerFiringthumb.png?itok=dska0UlJ" width="480" height="150" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><img src="http://i.imgur.com/Xda1Qhk.png" alt="Ousting Boehner" /></p>
<!-- Images -->
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tell Congress to fire Boehner</div></div></div>Wed, 29 Jul 2015 21:21:35 +0000logan.albright61744 at http://www.freedomworks.orgBoehner is No Conservative, No Matter Which Party is in Powerhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/boehner-no-conservative-no-matter-which-party-power
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/JohnBoehnerPress.jpg?itok=b0Md_JFt"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/JohnBoehnerPress.jpg?itok=b0Md_JFt" width="480" height="330" alt="Boehner attempts to explain himself, fools no one." /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>In a <a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?327391-1/house-speaker-john-boehner-roh-weekly-briefing">press conference</a> today, Speaker John Boehner tried to sell himself as a true conservative, touting his supposed reforms and lamenting that there was only so much he could do with a Democratic president in the White House. Oh, cool. So if we get a Republican in, Boehner will suddenly turn around and be super-conservative, right? Too bad history tells a different story.</p>
<p>From 2001 to 2009, it will be remembered that George W. Bush - a Republican! - was president. If we take Boehner at his word, we should expect to see a principled stand on matters of spending. Let's go to the tape.</p>
<p>In 2002, Boehner <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2002/roll279.xml">voted</a> to increase the debt by $450 billion. Ouch, that isn't good. But everyone has a bad day now and then. Maybe it was just a fluke.</p>
<p>In 2003, he <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/108-2003/h82">voted</a> to increase the debt limit by $900 billion. Uh oh.</p>
<p>In 2004, he <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/108-2004/h536">voted</a> to increase the debt by another $800 billion. Um.....</p>
<p>In 2005, he was <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2013/10/07/shock_john_boehner_once_voted_for_clean_debt_limit_increase.html">complicit</a> in a scheme to raise the debt limit by $781 billion by voice vote, to allow Republicans to avoid going on record on the matter. Oh dear...</p>
<p>In 2008, he <a href="https://www.opencongress.org/vote/2008/h/681">voted</a> to raise the debt limit by $700 billion. Okay, I think you get the point.</p>
<p>So, in total, John Boehner voted to increase America's debt by 3.631 trillion-with-a-t dollars under a Republican president. So, don't believe him when he blames Barack Obama for his inability to lead a conservative agenda. The truth is, he has never been a conservative. It's time we had a Speaker who actually believes in fiscal responsibility instead of just saying it.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tell Congress to End the Boehner Blunder</div></div></div>Wed, 29 Jul 2015 19:27:58 +0000logan.albright61743 at http://www.freedomworks.orgFW Statement: Meadows Represents Millions of Americanshttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/fw-statement-meadows-represents-millions-americans
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>During Speaker Boehner's press conference today, he said in response to a question about Meadows's resolution to vacate the speakership, "You have a Member here and a Member there that are off the reservation." FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon responded:</p>
<p>"Congressman Meadows is not 'off the reservation' as Boehner claims. He's in line with millions of Americans that want the bold leadership they were promised. Instead, the House consistently votes to go billions over spending caps and increases the debt ceiling without principled reforms. This is not a conservative approach. It's the usual tax and spend mentality that plagues Washington, and it needs to stop."</p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 29 Jul 2015 19:13:40 +0000ISomberg61742 at http://www.freedomworks.orgFeds Spend Money For Wordless Shakespeare http://www.freedomworks.org/content/feds-spend-money-wordless-shakespeare
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/e5238b487ee707e9e825ef2004a1b010bf9dbeee16c1b36134b964e726a157db.jpg?itok=pAZBa-V9"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/e5238b487ee707e9e825ef2004a1b010bf9dbeee16c1b36134b964e726a157db.jpg?itok=pAZBa-V9" width="480" height="328" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><em>"A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."</em> - William Shakespeare</p>
<p>Recently, it was exposed that the US federal government recently spent $95,700 to adapt Shakespeare's classic tragedies and comedy's into wordless performances. You read correctly, <em>wordless performances</em>, a poetic "tragedy" in itself! According to a recent <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/20/feds-spent-5700-to-adapt-shakespeare-without-words/">Fox News</a> article:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and its state agency the Virginia Commission for the Arts has funded numerous shows from the Crystal City-based Synetic Theater, including a production of Hamlet without words, making the title character’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy slightly less potent. The Wall Street Journal bemoaned the dumbing down of Shakespeare, noting Shakespeare’s plays “without puns is like French cooking without butter...”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As of now the Synetic Theater has already adapted (some would say destroyed) <em>Macbeth</em>, <em>The Tempest</em>, and <em>A Midsummer's Night Dream</em>. Around $60,700 from NEA’s Virginia Commission has already been allocated for the Arts in 2013 alone, as well as an additional $15,000 to develop a “movement-based wordless performance" of <em>Twelfth Night</em> in 2014.</p>
<p>Wasteful and ridiculous spending alone in the past year and a half isn't being thrown at wordless performances alone, Republican Senator <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/22/tom-coburn-highlights-ridiculous-government-spendi/?page=all">Tom Coburn last October</a> brought to light numerous cases where the federal government threw money where no government should. Coburn pointed out that in the year's <em>Wastebook</em> that it "...does not show the $5,210 that the State Department tried to spend on a blowup, human-size foosball field for an embassy in Belize."</p>
<p>The <a href="http://mrconservative.com/2012/03/2471-30-government-waste-projects/">buck didn't stop there</a>, though, as "the U.S. government is spending $750,000 on a new soccer field for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay," and as if things couldn't get any stranger, <em>they did</em>. The government went and spent $175,587 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail[s] engage in sexually risky behavior."</p>
<p>This wasteful destruction of tax payer money is what has caused an increase in the distrust of elected officials; economist <a href="http://www.laffercenter.com/the-laffer-center-2/">Arthur Laffer</a> once spoke of government spending bluntly:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What I'm not saying is that all government spending is bad. It's not - far, far from it, but there is no free lunch, as a former colleague of mine used to say. There is no public tooth fairy. Father Christmas does not work on the Treasury staff this year. You can never bail someone out of trouble without putting someone else into trouble.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To put the bottom line up front in terms of wasteful spending, the question at the end of the day should be, "<em>to be or not to be?</em>"
<!-- Links --></p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 29 Jul 2015 17:35:30 +0000Remso William Martinez61740 at http://www.freedomworks.orgJohn Koskinen: The Case for Impeachmenthttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/john-koskinen-case-impeachment
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/140326_john_koskinen_irs_ap_605.jpg?itok=T-qQYRl3"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/140326_john_koskinen_irs_ap_605.jpg?itok=T-qQYRl3" width="480" height="260" alt="Hey hey, ho ho, Koskinen has got to go!" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Key members of the House Freedom Caucus are <a href="http://freebeacon.com/politics/gop-congressmen-to-obama-remove-irs-head-koskinen-or-we-will-impeach/">demanding</a> that IRS Commissioner John Koskinen be removed from office. In an op-ed written for the Wall Street Journal, Reps. Jim Jordan and Ron DeSantis told President Obama that if the Commissioner is not removed, they will begin the proceedings to impeach him.</p>
<p>Modern Americans view impeachment with a sort of awe and reverence. To most, it seems like an inconceivably drastic thing to do. But it was not always this way, nor was it the intention of the founders. Impeachment has always been a practical tool for getting rid of bad actors in government and, given the amount of government corruption we see today, a tool that should be used with much greater frequency.</p>
<p>If there is any doubt that Koskinen is a worthy target for impeachment, let’s run down a few of his misdeeds since he assumed the office in 2013.</p>
<p>First, the IRS targeting scandal. In 2013, it emerged that the IRS had been targeting conservative non-profit groups, delaying their applications, demanding ridiculous amounts of paperwork including highly invasive personal questions, and general obstructing conservative grassroots activities. The American Enterprise Institute estimated that this depressed Republican voter turnout in the 2012 elections, and could have even made the difference between Barack Obama winning or losing.</p>
<p>Of course, this was all before Koskinen became commissioner, so what does it have to do with him? Koskinen assumed office in December 2013, during the ongoing investigation into the scandal. Any serious public servant would have done everything possible to clean up the agency and get to the bottom of the wrongdoing. Koskinen instead chose to obstruct. Koskinen responded to subpoenas for emails regarding the scandal with the unbelievable claim that all the emails from the specified time period had <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/irs-thinks-we%E2%80%99re-all-idiots">suddenly gone missing. </a></p>
<p>After Lois Lerner, the public face of the targeting scandal,resigned without facing criminal charges, Koskinen seemed to be content, feeling no need to investigate further or cooperate with independent investigations. Worse still, a recent GAO report has revealed that Koskinen <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/irs-still-targeting-conservatives">failed to implement</a> recommended reforms to keep this sort of thing from happening again.</p>
<p>This callous disregard for the civil liberties of American citizens, and a complete indifference to running a just and transparent agency are alone sufficient cause to call for Koskinen’s impeachment. But wait, there’s more!</p>
<p>Koskinen was also in office when the IRS dropped a <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/irs-blinks">proposed rule</a> that would have all but destroyed the ability of non-profits to engage in political activity. Dropping the proposed rule on the day before Thanksgiving, to escape public scrutiny, the IRS wanted to require that all tax exempt groups engage in “social welfare,” an undefined term that meant whatever they wanted it to mean. You can bet it wouldn’t include advocating for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom, though.</p>
<p>This was an outrageous attempt to abridge the freedom of speech of all Americans who disagreed with the president’s agenda. Thankfully, the agency was forced to withdraw the rule after receiving a record number of angry comments.</p>
<p>All these actions reveal John Koskinen as an obstructive, partisan bureaucrat who has abused his office and failed in his responsibilities. He should be removed from office or, failing that, impeached.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tell Congress to Impeach John Koskinen</div></div></div>Wed, 29 Jul 2015 15:30:55 +0000logan.albright61739 at http://www.freedomworks.orgCongress must address out of control spending at the Federal Bureau of Prisonshttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/congress-must-address-out-control-spending-federal-bureau-prisons
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/medium.jpg?itok=QY4-xrYy"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/medium.jpg?itok=QY4-xrYy" width="458" height="275" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The Federal Bureau of Prisons is coming under some scrutiny from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The two Kentucky Republicans recently introduced the Federal Prisons Accountability Act, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1784">S. 1784</a>, which would require the president to appoint the director of the agency and subject the nominee to Senate confirmation under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/articleii#section2">Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution</a>.</p>
<p>Currently, the director of the Bureau of Prisons is appointed by the attorney general and is not subject to confirmation. In June, BOP Director Charles Samuels <a href="http://www.bop.gov/resources/news/20150605_message_to_staff_plans_to_retire.jsp">announced that he would retire</a> before the end of the year. Samuels, who started his career as a corrections officer, has served in the role since December 2011, overseeing more than 120 federal corrections facilities and an average of more than 217,300 prisoners between 2012 and 2014.</p>
<p>"Currently, the director of the Bureau of Prisons has significant budget authority over taxpayer dollars without confirmation by the U.S. Senate," <a href="http://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&amp;ContentRecord_id=d3479b0a-2a24-4959-b94f-e8ee881d9bc8">McConnell said in a statement announcing the bill</a>. "The legislation I introduced today with Senator Paul will bring some much needed accountability and transparency to the BOP, which is important for all agencies within the Department of Justice, and will help protect private sector workers in Kentucky and across the nation."</p>
<p>"No agency as large as the Bureau of Prisons should have so little accountability. Our bill will ensure the concerns of those who work in the prisons are heard and acted upon. It will also ensure the small businesses affected by competition from the bureau have their voices heard," Paul added.</p>
<p>Part of the reasoning for the bill, at least according to the statement, is that the Bureau of Prisons administers the Federal Prisons Industries (FPI), a government-sponsored entity that uses prison labor to produce goods and services in direct competition with private-sector companies. FPI, like many private businesses, competes for government contracts, which, the senators say, gives it an advantage because it can pay inmates substantially less.</p>
<p>FreedomWorks has no position on the Federal Prisons Accountability Act. Most nominees for Senate confirmable posts tend to sail through the process without much opposition. The <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/memoriam-senate-filibuster-1806-2013">unprecedented gutting of the filibuster in November 2013</a>, which lowered the confirmation threshold from 60 votes to 51 votes, may make the confirmation process even more of a ruse if the Senate and the White House are controlled by the same party.</p>
<p>Still, there is a real need to subject the Bureau of Prisons to intense congressional oversight and scrutiny. Between FY 2000 and FY 2015, the Bureau of Prisons' budget grew by roughly 88 percent in nominal dollars, and it now consumes a quarter of the Justice Department's annual appropriations. The cost of housing just one prisoner annually jumped from $21,603 in FY 2000 to nearly $30,000 in FY 2013.</p>
<p>The Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, highlighted out of control costs, which he called a "persisting crisis," in his annual report to the attorney general, despite a "downward trend" in the size of the federal prison population. The budgetary growth in the Federal Bureau of Prisons threatens other vital areas of federal law enforcement.</p>
<p>The explosion in the federal prison population, which grew by nearly 800 percent between FY 1980 and FY 2013, has more than maxed out prison infrastructure. In April 2014, the Congressional Research Service <a href="https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42937.pdf">noted</a> that “the federal prison system was 36% over its rated capacity in FY 2013, but high- and medium-security male facilities were operating at 52% and 45%, respectively, over rated capacity."</p>
<p>"[From FY 2000 to FY 2014], the rate of growth in the BOP’s budget was almost twice the rate of growth of the rest of the Department. The BOP currently has more employees than any other Department component, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and has the second largest budget of any Department component, trailing only the FBI," <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/challenges/2014.htm#1">Horowitz wrote</a>. "The Department’s leadership has acknowledged the dangers the rising costs of the federal prison system present to the Department’s ability to fulfill its mission in other areas. Nevertheless, federal prison spending continues to impact the Department’s ability to make other public safety investments."</p>
<p>Among the cost drivers is healthcare for inmates, which grew by 55 percent between FY 2006 and FY 2013. The Bureau of Prisons spent $1 billion on prisoners' healthcare, or a little less than one-sixth of its $6.445 billion budget, in FY 2013 alone. But healthcare costs are only one part of the problem with federal prison spending. Horowitz noted that the Bureau of Prisons is not properly utilizing existing programs that have already been approved by Congress.</p>
<p>Separately, in <a href="http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/659518.pdf">a detailed December 2013 report</a>, the Government Accountability Office explained that the Bureau of Prisons' budget requests often lacked transparency and justification. Previously, in <a href="http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588284.pdf">a February 2012 report</a>, the Government Accountability Office dinged the Bureau of Prisons for not fully utilizing existing options available to allow eligible offenders, such as those who have demonstrated good behavior, to leave prison early and serve out the remainder of their sentences in drug treatment programs, halfway houses, or home detention. Though the use of these options may have only a limited impact, it would relieve the Bureau of Prisons of, at least, some of its capacity problems.</p>
<p>It is important to note that the Bureau of Prisons, as it is currently run, does little more than warehouse prisoners. Kevin Ring, Director of Strategic Initiatives at <a href="http://www.famm.org">Families Against Mandatory Minimums</a> and a former federal inmate, testified on his experiences in federal prisons at <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/justice-reform-something-bipartisan-happening-congress-could-save-taxpayers-money-and-keep">a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing</a> earlier this month.</p>
<p>Ring, a former congressional staffer and lobbyist, was convicted in November 2010 on charges stemming from his involvement in the Jack Abramoff scandal. He <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/04/27/abramoff-co-conspirator-kevin-ring-released-to-halfway-house-after-15-months-in/">served 15 months</a> at FCI Cumberland in Maryland, a medium security facility run by the Bureau of Prisons. Since his release, Ring <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/-241879-1.html">has worked to reform</a> the very tough mandatory sentences he helped write because of his experiences in the federal justice system.</p>
<p>"I saw little to no rehabilitation in prison. There were few useful programs. The institution was either understaffed or uninterested in providing worthwhile programming. Trade apprenticeships, GED classes, and jobs with the National Park Service were the few exceptions. Most people worked menial jobs and collected their 12 to 15 cent-per-hour wages," <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Ring-FAMM-Statement-7-15-Criminal-Justice-II-COMPLETE.pdf">Ring told the committee in his prepared remarks</a>. "The most glaring deficiency in the area of programming was the lack of any cognitive behavior therapy or anger management counseling."</p>
<p>"I know some people still hold onto the myth that criminals, drug and white-collar, are rational actors who review the U.S. Code and weigh the costs and benefits before breaking the law. The fact, however, is that the overwhelming majority of inmates are not simply uneducated or poorly educated, but rather, they have terrible social skills and very little impulse control, ability to delay gratification, and risk awareness. The result is bad decision-making. These are the issues they need to address during their time in prison," he added.</p>
<p>Ring noted that FCI Cumberland had only one psychologist on staff for 250 inmates. "And despite studies from the National Institute of Justice showing the effectiveness of cognitive therapy," he said, "BOP offers a program for this in just two of its 122 institutions."</p>
<p>Requiring the nominee for director of the Bureau of Prisons to go through a Senate confirmation process may be an entirely valid exercise. But the issues at this federal agency go deeper than one person. Certainly, more congressional oversight of the Bureau of Prisons is sorely needed for just the tip of the iceberg revealed above.</p>
<p>There are, however, other issues that directly relate to the size of the federal prison population that could alleviate the unsustainable costs of the federal prison system. Lawmakers should address over-criminalization -- through <em>mens rea</em> legislation, for example -- and over-federalization of criminal law to alleviate cost concerns.</p>
<p>Just as important is the need to reform mandatory minimum sentences. Reducing mandatory minimums, which have contributed to the significant growth in federal prison populations, and expanding the "safety valve" exception to these sentences to include more low-level, nonviolent offenders with little criminal history would allow judges, less influenced by big government in the courtroom, to dole out punishments that focus more on diversion and treatment than warehousing offenders in federal prisons.</p>
<p>At the federal level, nearly half of all federal inmates are drug offenders. In 2014, 62 percent of federal drug offenders were classified in Category I and Category II, meaning that they have little to no criminal history. The public would be better served, <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/conservative-states-focused-reducing-repeat-offender-rates-disrupt-cycle-crime-and-save">as states like Texas and Georgia have demonstrated</a>, if judges had more leeway to consider more effective, and less expensive, alternative sentencing options for eligible nonviolent offenders.</p>
<p>The Bureau of Prisons has become the elephant in the room that Congress can no longer ignore. Addressing the vast problems and unsustainable status quo in the Bureau of Prisons through increased oversight and fundamental sentencing reform would allow lawmakers to use their limited resources to fund other areas of law enforcement that pursue violent and heinous offenders and incarcerate them.</p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 29 Jul 2015 15:15:27 +0000jpye61738 at http://www.freedomworks.orgFreedomWorks Backs House Effort to Remove Boehner Speakership http://www.freedomworks.org/content/freedomworks-backs-house-effort-remove-boehner-speakership
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>FreedomWorks announced its support today for House Resolution 385 submitted by Congressman Mark Meadows calling for the removal of John Boehner as Speaker of the House. FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:</p>
<p>“Every time defenders of freedom need a leader, John Boehner has failed us. It’s time to remove Boehner from the speakership before it’s too late to pass bold reforms. Under his speakership, the Republican-controlled House has allowed taxes and spending to increase and their agenda revolves more about pleasing lobbyists than standing on principle. It’s time to end the Boehner Blunder.”</p>
<p>Brandon continued, “We are proud to stand with Congressman Meadows in support of this resolution to remove Speaker Boehner. His courage and willingness to risk everything from committee placements to fundraising in order to do what’s right is an inspiration to us all. We will be there, alongside our millions of activists across the country, to support this effort.”</p>
<p>FreedomWorks aims to educate, build, and mobilize the largest network of activists advocating the principles of smaller government, lower taxes, free markets, personal liberty and the rule of law. For more information, please visit <a href="http://www.FreedomWorks.org">www.FreedomWorks.org</a> or contact Iris Somberg at <a href="mailto:isomberg@freedomworks.org">isomberg@freedomworks.org</a>.</p>
</div></div></div>Tue, 28 Jul 2015 21:57:27 +0000ISomberg61737 at http://www.freedomworks.orgBoehner’s Blunder: Meadows Moves to Retire the Speakerhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/boehner%E2%80%99s-blunder-meadows-moves-retire-speaker
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/MarkMeadows.jpg?itok=jsd_skAF"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/MarkMeadows.jpg?itok=jsd_skAF" width="445" height="334" alt="Mark Meadows is making it happen." /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The Republican majority in Congress was supposed to bring bold change.We were promised principled priorities and a pro-freedom agenda. We were promised a stop to the progressive agenda of Barack Obama. We were promised lower taxes, less government, more freedom.</p>
<p>But, in spite of Republican victories in 2014, business as usual has continued in Washington. One of the main reasons for this is a decided lack of leadership in the House of Representatives. Speaker Boehner has been a continuous obstacle to meaningful reform, as well as displaying a nasty tendency to abuse the power of his position.</p>
<p>That’s why Rep. Mark Meadows has introduced a resolution that, if passed, would retire Boehner as Speaker, leaving his chair vacant. It’s an incredibly gutsy move. Boehner is well known for taking vengeance on those who oppose him. But there comes a time when men of principle can no longer stand by and tolerate injustice, whatever the consequences. It helps that there is also a real chance that this plan could succeed.</p>
<p>Meadows can move to hold a floor vote to vacate the Speaker's chair, a motion which the House must comply with within 48 hours.The upshot is that if Meadows can peel off 29 Republicans, Boehner would need Democrats to support him, which would put him in an extremely embarrassing position. It will be remembered that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/01/06/here-are-the-republicans-who-voted-against-john-boehner-for-speaker/">25 Republicans</a> voted against Boehner in the Speaker fight at the beginning of the year, so reaching 29 is not an unreasonable number. And even if the measure fails, Boehner will still look bad and will be less likely to run for Speaker at the start of the next Congress. After this vote, the Speaker's chair will be vacant, and the House will have to hold a second vote to elect a new Speaker.</p>
<p>Under Boehner, the House has permitted <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/boehners-ten-worst-moments-speaker">tax increases, spending increases, and debt ceiling increases,</a> with virtually nothing in the way of reform to show for it. Boehner memorably <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/john-boehner-mark-meadows-house-gop-119286.html">stripped Meadows</a> of his committee position after the congressman voted against a trade rule, only reinstating him after a public outcry. Boehner earlier did the same thing to some of the Members who opposed him in the Speaker vote.</p>
<p>If the Republican majority is going to accomplish anything of substance, it is not going to happen under Boehner. It’s time for new leadership, and the fact that Meadows is willing to push for it at personal risk to his committee assignments and fundraising ability is admirable in the extreme. Please call your representative and tell them it’s time to retire Boehner. If we want to bring liberty back to our republic, we have to do a lot better.</p>
<p>The text of the resolution is below:</p>
<p style=" margin: 12px auto 6px auto; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; -x-system-font: none; display: block;"> <a title="View Meadows Speaker Resolution on Scribd" href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/272873122/Meadows-Speaker-Resolution" style="text-decoration: underline;">Meadows Speaker Resolution</a></p>
<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/272873122/content?start_page=1&amp;view_mode=scroll&amp;show_recommendations=true" data-auto-height="false" data-aspect-ratio="undefined" scrolling="no" id="doc_43101" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tell Congress it&#039;s time to fire boehner!</div></div></div>Tue, 28 Jul 2015 21:49:34 +0000logan.albright61736 at http://www.freedomworks.orgFreedomWorks Thanks Sen. Mike Lee for Championing ObamaCare Repealhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/freedomworks-thanks-sen-mike-lee-championing-obamacare-repeal
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Following news that Senators Mitch McConnell and Mike Lee released a joint statement in support of using budget reconciliation to repeal ObamaCare, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:</p>
<p>"Thank you Senator Mike Lee for standing up to Senate leadership and forcing a vote on repealing ObamaCare through budget reconciliation, so it would only need a simple majority vote. Activists across the country worked to elect leaders who would fight for them. Today we can join them in thanking Mike Lee for getting leadership to commit to a repeal vote that can actually reach the president's desk."</p>
<p>"ObamaCare is destroying our health care system, driving up costs, and decreasing the quality of care. It's about time the Senate acted on their promises and used every tool available to repeal this disastrous law."</p>
<p>"This will force the president to defend his signature law that is dismantling America's health care system. Even though he will likely veto the bill, it sets up health care as a major campaign issue in 2016. This is the dry run we need to demonstrate how to actually repeal ObamaCare, and we need all the presidential candidates to commit to full repeal."</p>
<p>FreedomWorks aims to educate, build, and mobilize the largest network of activists advocating the principles of smaller government, lower taxes, free markets, personal liberty and the rule of law. For more information, please visit <a href="http://www.FreedomWorks.org">www.FreedomWorks.org</a> or contact Iris Somberg at <a href="mailto:isomberg@freedomworks.org">isomberg@freedomworks.org</a>.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Read More About How Budget Reconciliation Works</div></div></div>Tue, 28 Jul 2015 16:04:28 +0000ISomberg61734 at http://www.freedomworks.orgDesert Snow: The company that teaches the government how to take innocent people's propertyhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/desert-snow-company-teaches-government-how-take-innocent-peoples-property
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/articlescivilforfeitureofcash-full.jpg?itok=SsoQ0ugd"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/articlescivilforfeitureofcash-full.jpg?itok=SsoQ0ugd" width="480" height="192" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Over the last several weeks, FreedomWorks has released two publications discussing in detail the problems with civil asset forfeiture. First, we released <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/civil-asset-forfeiture-grading-states"><em>Civil Asset Forfeiture: Grading the States</em></a>, which, as the title suggests, functions as a scorecard on states' civil asset forfeiture laws. More recently, we published <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/high-seas-highway-robbery-how-civil-asset-forfeiture-became-one-worst-forms-government"><em>From High Seas to Highway Robbery: How Civil Asset Forfeiture Became One of the Worst Forms of Government Overreach</em></a>, which offers historical background on this concerning area of the law.</p>
<p>articularly concerning in state laws is the perverse profit motive that is often behind seizures of property supposedly connected to a crime. Thirty-nine states allow law enforcement to keep a large portion, or all, of the proceeds from forfeitures. Only 10 states have removed the profit motive by directing all proceeds to separate, non-law enforcement accounts. Justice is turned on its head in the 36 states where the burden of proof falls on the property owner, even if they are never charged with a crime. In most states, the government need only meet a very low standard of proof to subject property to forfeiture (21 require "a preponderance of the evidence" and 10 require only probable cause).</p>
<p>Federal forfeiture law is just a bad. The government needs to present "a preponderance of the evidence" to subject property to forfeiture and the burden of proof falls on the property owner, who does not need to be charged with a crime. In addition, federal agencies can keep 100 percent of the proceeds from forfeitures. State and local law enforcement working in joint operations with federal agencies can use federal forfeiture law to seize property and begin forfeiture proceedings. Through the Justice Department's Equitable Sharing program, state and local law enforcement can receive up to 80 percent of the proceeds from forfeitures.</p>
<p>Civil asset forfeiture is a pernicious threat to Americans' due process and property rights, but it has become a lucrative business for law enforcement. They are incentivized to self-fund with the proceeds received through civil asset forfeiture. While apologists of this practice would argue that it is a necessary tool to fight crime, there is example after example of innocent people who have been negatively affected by abuse of civil asset forfeiture.</p>
<p>One aspect of civil asset forfeiture that has received some coverage -- but not nearly enough -- is a private intelligence network, Black Asphalt, that allows law enforcement participants to share information on potential targets, including innocent people. In its lauded September 2014 series, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/">"Stop and Seize,"</a> the <em>Washington Post</em> <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/07/police-intelligence-targets-cash/">detailed the activities of Black Asphalt</a>, which was created by Desert Snow, a company that, <a href="https://desertsnow.com/conferences">for $590</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-desert-snow-trained-americas-cops-2014-10">trains law enforcement</a> on how to take people's stuff during traffic stops. Think of Black Asphalt as sort of a Facebook for law enforcement, except it is far more exclusive and secretive.</p>
<p>"Operating in collaboration with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal entities, Black Asphalt members exchanged tens of thousands of reports about American motorists, many of whom had not been charged with any crimes," the <em>Post</em> explained. "For years, it received no oversight by government, even though its reports contained law enforcement sensitive information about traffic stops and seizures, along with hunches and personal data about drivers, including Social Security numbers and identifying tattoos."</p>
<p>Desert Snow holds competitions for law enforcement to see which group can seize the most property. The award for the winner is inclusion in its <a href="https://desertsnow.com/pages/view/6">"Royal Knight" program</a>, which offers various goodies, including consideration to be an associate instructor. Certainly, some of the "qualified incidents" for consideration are wholly important, but those related to civil asset forfeiture raise eyebrows considering that, in most instances, the person whose property is seized does not have to be charged with a crime.</p>
<p>Desert Snow's training and the Black Asphalt network are effective. "Agencies with police known to be participating in the Black Asphalt intelligence network have seen a 32 percent jump in seizures beginning in 2005, three times the rate of other police departments," <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2014/09/06/stop-and-seize/">the <em>Post</em> noted</a>. "Desert Snow-trained officers reported more than $427 million in cash seizures during highway stops in just one five-year period."</p>
<p>But Desert Snow's operations do not end at training law enforcement how to participate in this form of legal plunder. The company hired itself out to an Oklahoma district attorney to conduct interdiction stops for a 25 percent cut of the proceeds. Its efforts reeled in some $1 million over roughly a six-month period before <a href="http://newsok.com/oklahoma-da-halts-i-40-drug-stops-after-criticism/article/3864488">a judge scrutinized the company</a> for operating inside the state without the certification required by state law.</p>
<p>Judge David Stephens warned Desert Snow's owner, Joe David, not to participate in interdiction stops in Oklahoma without proper certification. "If you do," Stephens told David, "I hope to see you soon, wearing orange," in reference to the color of a prisoner's clothing. Though the stops yielded dozens of arrests, the involvement of Desert Snow employees, because they lacked proper certification, <a href="http://kfor.com/2015/05/28/technicality-could-force-drug-charges-to-be-dropped-in-multiple-oklahoma-counties/">was grounds to dismiss charges on a technicality</a>.</p>
<p>Desert Snow, which <a href="http://soprweb.senate.gov/index.cfm?event=getFilingDetails&amp;filingID=E32E1517-72C6-470D-BF04-51906621E543&amp;filingTypeID=69">spent $30,000 on forfeiture-related congressional lobbying efforts in 2010</a>, is coming under scrutiny, thanks, in part, to the <em>Washington Post</em>'s reporting and <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/highway-seizure-in-iowa-fuels-debate-about-asset-forfeiture-laws/2014/11/10/10f725fc-5ec3-11e4-8b9e-2ccdac31a031_story.html">a federal civil rights lawsuit holding the company partially liable</a> for the <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/iowa-lawmakers-should-go-big-civil-asset-forfeiture-reform">seizure of $90,000 in cash from two professional poker players</a> who were stopped by law enforcement in Iowa.</p>
<p>When it all comes down to it, though, Desert Snow is not the problem, but rather a symptom of it. And though law enforcement is often criticized for the wrongful seizures of property and cash, lawmakers expanded civil asset forfeiture laws in a way that breeds abuse. It is true, however, that law enforcement does not want lose this ability to self-fund, and they often <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/new-mexicos-new-protections-innocent-property-owners-should-not-be-weakened">fight</a> <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/oklahoma-lawmaker-comes-under-fire-trying-protect-innocent-peoples-property">against</a> proposed reforms to protect innocent property owners.</p>
<p>Civil asset forfeiture laws are the problem, and it is up to federal and state lawmakers to address them in a way that protects law-abiding citizens. By all means, go after those who break the law, but arrest, convict, and sentence them before seizing assets connected to crimes. Otherwise, the Fifth Amendment's guarantee of due process means nothing.</p>
</div></div></div>Tue, 28 Jul 2015 14:58:04 +0000jpye61733 at http://www.freedomworks.orgCapitol Hill Update, 27 July, 2015http://www.freedomworks.org/content/capitol-hill-update-27-july-2015
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/Hill Update Header_35.jpg?itok=ZGyCbcGN"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/Hill Update Header_35.jpg?itok=ZGyCbcGN" width="480" height="270" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><strong>Capitol Hill Update, 27 July, 2015</strong></p>
<p><strong>House &amp; Senate/Schedule:</strong> The House is in town for this week and will recess on Friday until September 8th. The Senate will not recess until August 8th.</p>
<p><strong>Senate/Transportation:</strong> The Senate has until midnight on Friday to fund federal highway infrastructure spending before the current program expires. The House passed a short-term highway bill to buy time for longer-term negotiations, while the Senate has tried to pursue a longer-term bill that also includes a reauthorization of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. If the Senate has to just pass a short-term highway bill itself, that guarantees that the Ex-Im Bank will stay expired at least through the August recess, increasing the likelihood that it may stay expired.</p>
<p><strong>Senate/Cybersecurity:</strong> Senate leadership has also indicated its intention to move to address cybersecurity as soon as they have passed a highway bill. Unfortunately, the bill they are working on – the Cyber Information Sharing Act (CISA), <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/754">S. 754</a> – both fails to solve the problem of cyber threats and also opens up a major new channel for government surveillance of innocent Americans’ data. Earlier this year, FreedomWorks signed onto a bi-partisan coalition letter expressing <a href="https://cdt.org/files/2015/03/CISA-2015-Coalition-Sign-On-Letter-For-Web.pdf">grave concerns</a> with this bill.</p>
<p><strong>House/Regulations:</strong> This week, the House will vote on the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/427">H.R. 427</a>. This bill would take back some of the authority that Congress has ceded to the presidency, by requiring that Congress vote on all new “major” (over $100 million impact) regulations. FreedomWorks has issued a <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/key-vote-yes-reins-act-hr-427">Key Vote: YES</a> in support of this bill.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 27 Jul 2015 21:51:42 +0000jwithrow61732 at http://www.freedomworks.orgPrincipal's Suicide Sheds Light on Common Core's Culture of Corruption http://www.freedomworks.org/content/principals-suicide-sheds-light-common-cores-culture-corruption
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/unnamed.jpg?itok=CVa0CYjm"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/unnamed.jpg?itok=CVa0CYjm" width="480" height="463" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>A local school <a href="http://nypost.com/2015/07/26/principal-commits-suicide-amid-common-core-test-scandal/">principal's recent suicide</a> has rocked her Harlem community to the core, shockingly though, the suicide was not the only incident found to be a part of an even larger scandal regarding recent standardized testing. According to the <em>New York Post</em>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Jeanene Worrell-Breeden, 49, of Teachers College Community School, jumped in front of a B train in the 135th Street station on St. Nicholas Avenue on April 17, police said. She was pulled out from under the train and taken to Harlem Hospital, where she died eight days later. The city Medical Examiner’s Office ruled it a suicide."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As investigators followed events leading up to Worrell-Breeden's suicide, they discovered that less than 24 hours previous to the incident, "her 47 third-graders wrapped up three days sweating over the high-stakes English exam — the first ever given at the fledgling school." The same day in which the students took part in the Common Core tests, a whistleblower connected to the school came out with allegations that of a massive cheating scandal in which the results of the tests were altered by Worrell-Breeden.</p>
<p>According once again to the <em>Post</em>, "Superintendent Gale Reeves told them in a meeting that all the third-grade English exams had been 'red-flagged' and 'invalidated.'" Reeves wanted to send loud and clear that the cheating violation was purely an inside job, and not the fault of any current teachers or students involved in the taking or administering of the exams, saying that “the children didn’t do anything wrong, and the teachers didn’t do anything wrong.”</p>
<p>The New York Department of Education finally released a statement after parents and faculty pressured them for weeks to get involved and come out with a statement into the results of the investigation into this scandal:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Principal Worrell-Breeden was the subject of allegations of testing improprieties,” spokeswoman Devora Kaye said. “An investigation substantiated these allegations, and we closed the investigation following her tragic passing.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Pressure to meet the standards and expectations has caused an increase in the anxiety of <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/third-grader-banned-school-party-because-common-core-opt-out">students who have to take the ambiguous exams</a>, and to teachers who are forced to balance teaching students and <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/no-teaching-experience-required-common-core">trying to understand the overly complicated program</a> they subjugate their students to. Due to the negative feedback from teachers, parents, and students about the strange and even intrusive standards Common Core has produced, <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/senators-cruz-and-paul-push-common-core-opt-out-surge">the number of test opt-outs has increased drastically</a> over the past year alone. Still in regards to the cheating in Harlem alone, Worrell-Breeden already had a history of scandal following her:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"Worrell-Breeden got the job despite a scandal at her former school, PS 18 in The Bronx. In 2009, the special commissioner of investigation for city schools found she had clocked in for overtime pay while working out with a personal trainer three times a week in the school gym."</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sadly, these scandals surrounding the implementation of Common Core exams have not been limited to the lone Harlem principal. In April of 2015, eleven Atlanta educators were convicted in what <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/02/us/verdict-reached-in-atlanta-school-testing-trial.html?_r=0"><em>The New York Times</em></a> called "the largest cheating scandal in the nation’s history," where over 200 Atlanta teachers and principals were involved in systematic cheating to alter the results of Common Core exams for over forty schools.</p>
<p>This reoccurring issue was addressed head on by New York Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, who, in a op-ed, <a href="http://blog.timesunion.com/tedisco/the-culture-of-corruption-and-common-core-testing/1647/">"The culture of corruption and Common Core testing,"</a> discussed the deep connection between corrupt school officials and politicians in regards to <a href="http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/standardized-test-scores-factor-much-money-school-receive-25534.html">federal funding given to schools</a> in terms of performance on the tests:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>"This isn’t about Democrat vs. Republican or liberal vs. conservative. It’s about petty partisanship and the tyranny of a Majority that stifles good government from working for the people thus enabling a culture of corruption. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="https://whatiscommoncore.wordpress.com/about/">corporate monopoly</a> companies like Pearson have, thanks to <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2014/09/30/watch-bill-gates-confirm-everybodys-wor">Common Core devisers such as Bill Gates</a> pushing the program throughout the country, has resulted in sparking a large network of <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/conservative-leaders-push-scott-walker-stop-common-core">activists of all political stripes to coalition in opposition</a> to the program which has created immense government overreach into the parental rights, teacher responsibilities, and the future of America's students. In order to break the immense surge in corruption regarding standardized core curricula testing, average citizens must unite to <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/campaign/common-core/get-common-core-action-plan">end Common Core permanently</a> throughout the country.</p>
<p>Besides, if you can find no other reason to act, just take a look at <a href="http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/common-core-math-problem-makes-zero-sense/">Common Core math questions</a> alone...</p>
<!-- Links -->
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-background-color field-type-te-fields-rgb field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p style="color: #e52826">The color code in this field is #e52826</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">WATCH THE WARNING ABOUT &quot;COMMUNIST CORE&quot;</div></div></div>Mon, 27 Jul 2015 20:20:31 +0000Remso William Martinez61730 at http://www.freedomworks.orgConservative states focused on reducing repeat offender rates to disrupt the cycle of crime and save taxpayers moneyhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/conservative-states-focused-reducing-repeat-offender-rates-disrupt-cycle-crime-and-save
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/JC_Interior1.jpg?itok=eUx8VnXl"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/JC_Interior1.jpg?itok=eUx8VnXl" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>It is easy to look at the <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/1tabledatadecoverviewpdf/table_1_crime_in_the_united_states_by_volume_and_rate_per_100000_inhabitants_1993-2012.xls">decline in violent crime rates</a> and believe that lengthy prison sentences mandated by Congress were the catalyst. Unfortunately, <em>Wall Street Journal</em> columnist Jason Riley recently <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/conservatives-have-proven-justice-reform-lowers-crime-rates-and-keeps-communities-safe">made this utterly misleading argument</a>. But as the Brennan Center for Justice <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/what-caused-crime-decline">explained in a February 2015 study</a>, crime rates fell because of "various social, economic, and environmental factors, such as growth in income and an aging population." Lengthy sentences that contributed to the sharp rise of prison populations had very little to do with it.</p>
<p>More than 40 years after the war on drugs began, illicit narcotics and marijuana remain readily available in our communities. Even as the <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/dcf/tables/salespos.cfm">number of arrests for simple drug possession skyrocketed</a> and the United States experienced a sharp rise in prison populations, the <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2013/oct/01/science/la-sci-sn-illegal-drugs-prices-purity-20131001">prices of illicit drugs fell due to their availability</a>. The United States <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/13/americans-trillion-dollars-drugs_n_4943601.html">spent more than $1 trillion</a> to combat illicit drugs between 2000 and 2010, but <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/annabelle-buggle/after-40year-fight-illici_b_3623714.html">drug use remains at an all-time high</a>. Americans have taken notice of the failure of the war on drugs. In August 2013, Rasmussen Reports found that <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/august_2013/82_say_u_s_not_winning_war_on_drugs">82 percent believe the United States is losing the war on drugs</a>. Only 4 percent say it is winning.</p>
<p>It is clear that the "lock 'em up and throw away the key" approach to punishing illicit drugs use is not working. The United States represents 5 percent of the world's population, but 25 percent of its prisoners. Our incarceration rate, <a href="http://www.prisonstudies.org/country/united-states-america">707 per 100,000 residents</a>, is <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/world-map-of-incarceration-rates-2014-1">higher than that of China, Russia, and North Korea</a>. At the state level, in 2011, 16.6 percent of offenders were admitted for drug crimes, <a href="http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p12tar9112.pdf">according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics</a>. At the federal level, in 2012, more than half were incarcerated for drug offenses. Including all levels of government, incarceration <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-high-price-of-americas-incarceration-80-billion/">costs Americans $80 billion annually</a>.</p>
<p>Certainly, those who commit heinous, violent acts deserve to be in prison. But many offenders are low-level, nonviolent offenders whose time would be better served in drug treatment, job training and education programs while they are in prison, this would reduce their risks of becoming a repeat offender. By disrupting the cycle of crime, policymakers can reduce long-term prison costs, producing savings that can either be reinvested into other aspects of public safety, such as funding law enforcement, or to reduce the tax burden.</p>
<p>Several Republican states that had previously enacted costly "tough on crime" policies began to reexamine their approach as corrections costs began to consume large shares of their budgets. The poster-child for these reforms is Texas, which, in 2007, began a significant reversal from the past in favor of an innovative and "smarter" approach to dealing with crime.</p>
<p>The Lone Star State's prison population had grown dramatically. From 1990 to 2010, the state's incarceration rate increased by 122 percent. Lawmakers were faced with $2 billion in costs to build new prisons to house the growing inmate population. Rather than continue the unsustainable status quo, lawmakers found a better way. They <a href="http://rightoncrime.com/2011/05/texas-rehabilitation-programs-reduce-recidivism-rates/">appropriated $241 million on programs</a> designed to rehabilitate offenders and established drug courts. The reforms were a resounding success, as the rate of repeat offenders (recidivism) dropped by 11 percent.</p>
<p>"For Texas, the 11 percent drop meant that 1,212 fewer felons came back to prison -- one of several reasons the state's prison population has continued to decline. Most other states' prison systems are a fraction of the size of Texas'," <a href="http://www.governing.com/news/state/mct-report-recidivism-rate-down.html"><em>Governing</em> noted in September 2012</a>. Even a small drop in Texas' recidivism rate can mean big cost savings for taxpayers, as prison costs continue to spiral."</p>
<p>As a result, Texas not only scrapped its plans to build new prisons, but the state also <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30275026">closed three prisons</a>. Even while the state's prison population dropped by 12 percent by 2013 as a result of the reforms, <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2015/01/growth-in-federal-prison-system-exceeds-states">according to Pew Charitable Trusts</a>, crime rates fell by 21 percent. Yes, a state can have a smaller prison populations, save money, and make communities safer.</p>
<p>"With comprehensive and serious reforms, we were able to avoid massive expected prison population growth and create a new mindset about criminal justice in Texas. Instead of throwing money at the problem, Texas made the system more efficient and effective," <a href="http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Lawmakers-give-justice-reforms-in-Texas-a-boost-6361712.php">wrote former state Rep. Jerry Madden</a> (R-Plano), who spearheaded the reforms in the legislature. "To date, the state has saved taxpayers an estimated $3 billion and Texas has its lowest crime rates since 1968."</p>
<p>In 2011, Georgia's new Republican governor, Nathan Deal, saw the success in Texas and sought to replicate it in Georgia, which was similarly burdened by the high cost of corrections. The state, under Deal's leadership, reformed its mandatory minimum sentencing statutes to create a "safety valve" to allow judges more discretion when dealing with low-level, nonviolent offenders, offered rehabilitative programming for eligible offenders, and overhauled its juvenile justice system. Prison populations declined, <a href="http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2015/01/growth-in-federal-prison-system-exceeds-states">crime</a> and repeat offender rates dropped, and <a href="http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2014/mar/19/nathan-deal/georgia-sentencing-reforms-pays-budget-deal-says/">Georgia saved money</a>. As a result of Georgia's success, <em>The New Republic</em> <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/121425/gop-governor-nathan-deal-leading-us-prison-reform">opined</a> that Deal "is leading the country's most successful prison reform."</p>
<p>Other, mostly Republican, states have implemented their own reforms, ranging from modifying mandatory minimum sentences, <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/oklahoma-becomes-latest-republican-state-enact-meaningful-justice-reforms">such as Oklahoma</a>, or, <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/alabama-enacts-proven-justice-reforms-ensure-public-safety-and-reduce-burdens-taxpayers">as Alabama has done</a>, offering eligible low-level, nonviolent offenders programming to reduce their risk of going back to prison down the road.</p>
<p>Justice reform allows law enforcement and the corrections system to focus its efforts and prison bed space on the most serious offenders, especially those who commit violent acts. While an initial appropriation may be necessary to implement programs designed to reduce an offender's risk of reoffending, the budgetary savings will come and communities, as the cycle of crime is disrupted, will be safer.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 27 Jul 2015 19:20:52 +0000jpye61728 at http://www.freedomworks.orgKey Vote YES on the REINS Act, H.R. 427http://www.freedomworks.org/content/key-vote-yes-reins-act-hr-427
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>As one of our over 6.9 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and ask him or her to vote YES on the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act, H.R. 427. This bill would require a vote from Congress to approve any major regulation from an executive branch agency.</p>
<p>Every year, executive agencies issue thousands of new rules and regulations, often based upon little more than loose guidelines provided by Congress. Those rules that impose at least $100 million of annual compliance cost are considered “major rules.” In 2014 alone, federal agencies issued 200 major rules. The REINS Act would respect the checks and balances carefully established in the Constitution by requiring Congress to approve such rules. Agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) would no longer be allowed to pass economically devastating regulations without being put to a congressional vote.</p>
<p>As our Founding Fathers understood, it is dangerous for any branch of government to have unchecked power. In Federal 51, James Madison acknowledged that checks and balances are “necessary to control the abuses of government.” In article 1, section 7 of the Constitution, the process of creating a new law is outlined and clearly gives that power to the legislative branch. Today, unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch repeatedly disregard these limits by enacting new rules without the approval of Congress.</p>
<p>Congress has spent decades ceding its power to agencies which are largely unaccountable to the voting public. We cannot continue to allow the American people to be potentially harmed by regulations that have not been subjected to the proper constitutional lawmaking process—a vote by their elected representatives. The REINS Act would restore accountability and protect citizens’ rights by giving elected officials a voice in all major regulations issued. </p>
<p>Please contact your representative and ask that he or she vote YES on the REINS Act, H.R. 427. FreedomWorks will count the vote on this amendment as a Key Vote when calculating our Congressional Scorecard for 2015. The scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of Congress who consistently vote to support economic freedom and individual liberty.</p>
<p>Sincerely,<br />
Adam Brandon<br />
CEO<br />
FreedomWorks</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-files field-type-file field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Files:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="file"><img class="file-icon" alt="" title="application/pdf" src="/modules/file/icons/application-pdf.png" /> <a href="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/KVN 2015-07-27 - YES - REINS Act (House).pdf" type="application/pdf; length=306745">KVN 2015-07-27 - YES - REINS Act (House).pdf</a></span></div></div></div>Mon, 27 Jul 2015 17:59:25 +0000abrandon61729 at http://www.freedomworks.orgNet Neutrality Rider Hitchhikes with Spending Billhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/net-neutrality-rider-hitchhikes-spending-bill
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/download_1.jpg?itok=Ky9rtABY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/download_1.jpg?itok=Ky9rtABY" width="300" height="168" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Net neutrality supporters, along with many Democrats, were left woeful after the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a spending bill that affected the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). Contained within the spending bill was a rider that blocks the FCC from regulating broadband rates that Internet service providers charge their customers.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/senate-committee-agrees-fy2016-financial-services-appropriations-bill">FY2016 Financial Services Appropriations Bill</a>,</p>
<p>“[t]he bill contains $320 million for operations at the FCC, a cut of $20 million below the FY2015 enacted level. The bill provides funding for FCC moving expenses that can only be utilized if the agency significantly reduces the size of its leased space. The legislation also prohibits the FCC from regulating rates under the net neutrality order, and grandfathers all joint sales agreements (JSAs) from recent FCC JSA rules changes.”</p>
<p>Reining in the overreaching power of the FCC comes in wake of the recent Open Internet Order that requires Internet service providers to treat all Internet traffic equally. According to the Commission, it did not intend to regulate rates, but many remain unconvinced.</p>
<p>Republicans have been especially wary of the new rules and the strong possibility of greater regulation from the Commission. A <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/technology/overnights/249026-overnight-tech-advocates-upset-with-net-neutrality-rider">parallel bill was introduced in the House</a> that “would [also] outright block the rules until a court battle is settled, something absent from the Senate bill.” Still, opponents of the FCC regulations agree<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/technology/overnights/249026-overnight-tech-advocates-upset-with-net-neutrality-rider"> language in the Senate bill is getting narrower</a>, but it needs to be even more tailored to constrain unnecessary FCC regulation.</p>
<p>Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) along with Ranking Democrat Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) have been working together on the net neutrality issue for some time in hopes of reaching a respectable compromise. <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/technology/248801-senate-gop-push-pared-back-net-neutrality-rider">According to Nelson’s office</a> the progress made thus far faces being “undermined if lawmakers try to fiddle with the FCC in a funding bill.”</p>
<p>Hopeful Democrats argued for more space for negotiations and reaching a compromise. But once again, attempts to strip out the rider were voted down on party lines. Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Reilly predicted any attempts at a congressional compromise at this point in time “<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/technology/overnights/249026-overnight-tech-advocates-upset-with-net-neutrality-rider">would be tough to sell</a>.”</p>
<p>However, as details emerge regarding the rider it is clear that there are some strings attached. Sen. Jon Tester added and an amendment <a href="http://www.appropriations.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/FY2016-FSGG-Appropriations-Managers-Package_0.pdf">telling the FCC</a> to “coordinate efforts with the Rural Utilities Service to optimize the use of limited resources and promote broadband deployment in rural America.”</p>
<p>All in all the net neutrality rider bill isn’t exactly perfect, but it is an attempt to limit some of the FCC’s unnecessary oversight power.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">What the national debt really looks like</div></div></div>Mon, 27 Jul 2015 14:00:44 +0000emaitcheson61722 at http://www.freedomworks.orgMcConnell and Senate Republicans Breathe New Life into the Expired Ex-Im Bankhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/mcconnell-and-senate-republicans-breathe-new-life-expired-ex-im-bank
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/Cruz-McConnell-lied-on-Ex-IM.jpg?itok=rhjdvMmt"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/Cruz-McConnell-lied-on-Ex-IM.jpg?itok=rhjdvMmt" width="400" height="319" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>This afternoon, the Senate voted 67 to 26 to attach a reauthorization of the U.S. Export-Import Bank to the "must-pass" highway bill, choosing to represent lobbyists over the voters who put them in office. If this amendment makes it into law, the corporations which have spent so many millions of dollars to lobby for Ex-Im's resurrection will have Mitch McConnell to thank for it.</p>
<p>In spite of his repeated public insistence that he opposes Ex-Im, it was McConnell who introduced (for Senator Kirk) the amendment to revive the bank via the unrelated highway funding bill, knowing full well that it had the votes to pass. As Senator Cruz pointed out in his brilliantly scathing speech, the Senate Majority Leader has priority of precedence on the Senate floor - meaning that only McConnell could guarantee a vote on Ex-Im. Conversely, McConnell alone could have guaranteed Ex-Im stayed expired, by simply refusing to give it a chance on the floor.</p>
<p>But instead McConnell lied, and the amendment to reauthorize an 80-year-old corporate welfare fund received a vote. 24 Republicans joined the Democrats to pass the amendment. Ever the crafty politician, McConnell voted against the amendment, having already done his share to ensure it passed.</p>
<p>Here's the list of the 24 Republican senators who chose to represent Boeing rather than the American taxpayer (you can see the full roll call <a href="http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&amp;session=1&amp;vote=00254">HERE</a>):</p>
<p>Lamar Alexander</p>
<p>Kelly Ayotte</p>
<p>Roy Blunt</p>
<p>Richard Burr</p>
<p>Dan Coats</p>
<p>Thad Cochran</p>
<p>Susan Collins</p>
<p>Mike Enzi</p>
<p>Joni Ernst</p>
<p>Lindsey Graham</p>
<p>Chuck Grassley</p>
<p>Dean Heller</p>
<p>John Hoeven</p>
<p>Johnny Isakson</p>
<p>Mark Kirk</p>
<p>Ron Johnson</p>
<p>John McCain</p>
<p>Jerry Moran</p>
<p>Lisa Murkowski</p>
<p>Rob Portman</p>
<p>Pat Roberts</p>
<p>Mike Rounds</p>
<p>Tim Scott</p>
<p>Roger Wicker</p>
</div></div></div>Sun, 26 Jul 2015 20:58:44 +0000jwithrow61726 at http://www.freedomworks.orgKey Vote YES on Repealing ObamaCare with 51 Votes in the Senatehttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/key-vote-yes-repealing-obamacare-51-votes-senate
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>As one of our over 6.9 million FreedomWorks activists nationwide, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to vote YES on Senator Mike Lee’s procedural move to pass a full repeal of ObamaCare with only a simple majority vote. Note that if the repeal amendment passes, FreedomWorks will no longer score against the vote on final passage for the highway funding bill.</p>
<p>Senator McConnell insists upon allowing a vote that would attach a revival of the dormant Export-Import Bank to the bill to fund highway spending. He also allowed a vote on an amendment to fully repeal ObamaCare, knowing fully well that since it wasn’t germane to the highway bill it would require 60 votes to pass and couldn’t get past the Senate Democrats.</p>
<p>What Senator Mike Lee has promised to do is to turn the vote on ObamaCare into an actual, substantial attempt to pass a repeal and send it to the president’s desk. By invoking Senate Rule 22, Lee intends to force a simple majority vote on making the ObamaCare amendment “germane”, which would allow it to pass with only 51 votes. There are 54 Republicans in the Senate currently, so there is no reason that Lee’s effort should not succeed.</p>
<p>Although President Obama would veto a bill that contains ObamaCare, Lee’s tactic would set a marker for how Congress could get rid of the failing health care takeover under a Republican president. And, clearly, sending a full repeal of ObamaCare to the president’s desk should be a much higher priority for the Republican majority in the Senate than reviving an ancient corporate welfare fund.</p>
<p>Please contact your senators and ask that they vote YES on Senator Lee’s procedural vote to allow a full repeal of ObamaCare to pass the Senate. FreedomWorks will count this vote as a Key Vote when calculating our Congressional Scorecard for 2015, and it will be worth twice the weight of a normal vote. The scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of Congress who consistently vote to support economic freedom and individual liberty.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Adam Brandon
CEO, FreedomWorks</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-files field-type-file field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Files:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="file"><img class="file-icon" alt="" title="application/pdf" src="/modules/file/icons/application-pdf.png" /> <a href="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/KVN 2015-07-24 - YES - Lee ObamaCare Repeal.pdf" type="application/pdf; length=309135">KVN 2015-07-24 - YES - Lee ObamaCare Repeal.pdf</a></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tell You Senators to Stand with Mike Lee HERE!</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 22:44:34 +0000abrandon61725 at http://www.freedomworks.orgMike Lee’s Bold Move to Repeal ObamaCarehttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/mike-lee%E2%80%99s-bold-move-repeal-obamacare
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/Mike Lee Action.jpg?itok=vPQbaX8y"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/Mike Lee Action.jpg?itok=vPQbaX8y" width="480" height="360" alt="Mike Lee is standing against ObamaCare in a big way." /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Sometimes a man’s just got to take a stand. Rand Paul did it his 13-hour filibuster on drone strikes, Ted Cruz did it in his 21-hour floor speech to defund ObamaCare, and now Mike Lee is invoking an obscure Senate procedure rule to completely repeal everyone’s least favorite health care law.</p>
<p>You read that right, <a href="http://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=f3c682eb-c9e3-4a3a-aee9-05d2246b66df">Mike Lee is trying to repeal ObamaCare</a>, root and branch, fulfilling the promise Senate Republicans made on the campaign trail, but have yet to live up to.</p>
<p>Here’s how it’s going to work. It’s complicated, so try to stay with me.</p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a move reminiscent of Harry Reid, has filled up the amendment tree on the Senate’s version of the highway bill, only allowing two additional amendments. One of these is to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank. For allowing this after promising not to cut a deal with Democrats to bring the Bank back from the dead, Ted Cruz memorably called Reid <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/fw-activists-stop-lying-about-exim-bank">a liar</a> on the Senate floor. The other amendment, however, would repeal ObamaCare completely.</p>
<p>Frustrated at having to work with a Majority Leader who has violated his word and acted hypocritically, Mike Lee is invoking his superior understanding of Senate rules to get a simple majority vote on repealing ObamaCare.</p>
<p>Ordinarily, this amendment would require 60 votes to proceed because it is not germane to the main thrust of the highway bill. However, Mike Lee intends to challenge the presiding officer of the Senate’s ruling on the matter. To overrule the presiding officer takes only 51 votes, and after that final passage only takes 51 votes as well. This method allows Republicans to repeal ObamaCare without needing a single Democrat’s vote.</p>
<p>It's important to appreciate the brilliant strategy at work here. Since President Obama is sure to veto any bill that repeals his signature legislative achievement, the only way for establishment Republicans to expand wasteful spending and reauthorize the Ex-Im Bank's corporate welfare program will be to vote against repealing ObamaCare, which no one with any brains is going to want to do. If the ObamaCare repeal amendment does pass, and Obama vetoes it, Republicans will have proven that they are willing and able to repeal ObamaCare as son as they manage to regain the White House.</p>
<p>Mike Lee deserves our applause and support for taking a stand and making a real effort to repeal one of the most damaging laws in American history. It’s something Republicans should have done a long time ago. That’s why we’re issuing a special, double-weighted key vote, in favor of repealing ObamaCare in the Senate. Tell your Senators to stand with Mike, fulfill their campaign promises, and vote to repeal ObamaCare in its entirety.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tell Republican Leadership to Support Mike Lee and Repeal ObamaCare</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 20:57:57 +0000logan.albright61724 at http://www.freedomworks.orgFreedomWorks Activists Support Mike Lee, Call on Senators to Repeal ObamaCarehttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/freedomworks-activists-support-mike-lee-call-senators-repeal-obamacare
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>When the Senate is scheduled to take up the highway bill on Sunday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is set to make this a real fight to repeal ObamaCare. He is prepared to <a href="http://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=f3c682eb-c9e3-4a3a-aee9-05d2246b66df">push for a simple majority vote to repeal ObamaCare</a>, as opposed to the 60 vote threshold that would normally be required. FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:</p>
<p>“We’re asking grassroots activists to join us in supporting Mike Lee and pushing to send a full repeal of ObamaCare to the president’s desk. Republicans promised things would be different if they took the Senate. Now, it’s time to make good on that promise and move ahead with the full repeal of ObamaCare. This is why we're issuing a double-weighted key vote in support of Sen. Lee's effort.”</p>
<p>“It’s true that the amendment to reauthorize the cronyist piggybank that is the Export-Import Bank may also pass. We still oppose wasting taxpayer money on propping up Boeing and General Electric, but, in the end, President Obama will veto the bill. Then why pass it? Because the point here is that we can set up a process in which full repeal is possible once we have a new president in 2016, and we need all the presidential candidates to commit to full repeal if they want grassroots support.”</p>
<p>“People are yearning for real change, not the same old establishment talking points. We need to support Mike Lee in finally forcing the vote that Senate Republicans promised.”</p>
<p>FreedomWorks aims to educate, build, and mobilize the largest network of activists advocating the principles of smaller government, lower taxes, free markets, personal liberty and the rule of law. For more information, please visit <a href="http://www.FreedomWorks.org">www.FreedomWorks.org</a> or contact Iris Somberg at <a href="mailto:isomberg@freedomworks.org">isomberg@freedomworks.org</a>.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tell the Republican Leadership to Support Mike Lee&#039;s Fight to Repeal ObamaCare!</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 20:43:40 +0000ISomberg61723 at http://www.freedomworks.orgHealth Regulations Stifle Innovation, Raise Costshttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/health-regulations-stifle-innovation-raise-costs
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/health regulations.jpg?itok=Qk8ee5d0"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/health regulations.jpg?itok=Qk8ee5d0" width="480" height="319" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>For decades, the costs of providing health care services have escalated. Congress passed ObamaCare, in part, as a supposed way to control these rising costs. However, the health care market was heavily regulated before ObamaCare. The increased regulations from ObamaCare have not prevented costs from rising, they only work to hamper innovations, which lead to bloated costs.</p>
<p>The FDA’s regulation of the health industry does two things. First, it stifles innovation and increases the time it takes for new drugs and procedures to reach the market. Second, it increases research and development costs,which are then passed on to the consumers.</p>
<p>The time it takes new drugs and procedures to reach the market is a big deal. When lifesaving innovations are kept off the market, some people will miss out on the help they desperately need. The amount of time, and testing, it takes to get FDA approval, greatly increases the cost of new products, to a degree we do not see in other fields.</p>
<p>For instance, over the last century cars have become faster, safer, longer-lasting and have more accessories, but <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0512/how-inflation-has-affected-the-price-of-cars.aspx">today’s basic cars are cheaper than ever</a>.</p>
<p>Likewise, as new electronics hit the market, their prices are generally no more expensive than the product they are replacing. The cost of the average television set has <a href="http://www.theawl.com/2011/11/how-much-more-do-televisions-cost-today">declined from $8,480 shortly after World War II to $319 in 2011</a>, using inflation-adjusted dollars. This decrease in price has occurred all while televisions sets gained sleeker designs and crisper picture quality.</p>
<p>The computing power in today’s cell phones <a href="http://www.thedailycrate.com/2014/02/01/geek-tech-apollo-guidance-computer-vs-iphone-5s/">dwarfs the computing power</a> that put the first men on the moon in the Apollo 11 mission. The cell phones of today are of course also much smaller and much less expensive.</p>
<p>It would be helpful if medical services were regulated more like cosmetic surgeries where <a href="http://healthblog.ncpa.org/why-cant-the-market-for-medical-care-work-like-cosmetic-surgery/">prices have declined compared to inflation</a>. From 1992 to 2012, inflation increased prices by 64 percent, whereas medical care prices increased 118 percent but cosmetic services costs only increased by 30 percent, below inflation. The cost to to obtain lasik eye surgery has declined by a quarter from 1999 to 2011.</p>
<p>Prosthetic limbs have been extremely expensive, generally ranging from $20,000 to $30,000. But with new 3-D printers, a father in Massachusetts was able to <a href="http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/economic-intelligence/2014/01/22/the-real-health-care-fight-is-over-outsider-innovation">obtain a hand for his son at the cost of a McDonald’s value meal</a>.</p>
<p>Regulations cannot keep up with an innovative market. It is not just 3-D printers that are changing the health market, but innovations from nanobots to wireless telemetry and organ creation to drugs tailored to a patient’s specific DNA. How <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/need-liberate-americas-health-care/">regulators are able to adjust to these innovations</a> and allow them to improve health care is a growing concern.</p>
<p>Regulation protects the status quo and hinders or prevents innovation, the health care market is too important to be controlled by cronyism. New technology often comes from unexpected places and from people that had previously not been major players in the market. However, this is only possible when the cost of regulation is low.</p>
<p>There is no reason that the health care industry can not provide a better product at the same, or cheaper, price. There are other examples, from cars to electronics to cosmetic surgery, where there have been great innovations without cost increases.The health care industry has been one of the most heavily regulated markets for decades. We need to reduce the regulation and allow the free market to flourish to bring prices down and support innovation.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">More on the FDA Holding Back Innovation</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 18:59:43 +0000mgreibrok61721 at http://www.freedomworks.orgThe “Balance” Between Safety and Privacy: Why Going Dark Offers a Shining Lighthttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/%E2%80%9Cbalance%E2%80%9D-between-safety-and-privacy-why-going-dark-offers-shining-light
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/phone.png?itok=02z3K1gl"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/phone.png?itok=02z3K1gl" width="340" height="148" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>On July 8th the Senate Judiciary Committee <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/going-dark-encryption-technology-and-the-balance-between-public-safety-and-privacy">held a hearing</a> titled “Going Dark: Encryption, Technology, and the Balance Between Public Safety and Privacy.” In his opening statement, Senator Chuck Grassley explained that “[c]ompanies are increasingly choosing to encrypt these devices in such a way that the company itself is unable to unlock them, even when presented with a lawful search warrant.”</p>
<p>From <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/07-08-15%20Grassley%20Statement1.pdf">Grassley’s opening statement:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>[O]ur data has increasingly become a target for hackers, criminals and foreign governments. We pick up the newspaper and read about breaches that have left personal data exposed almost on a daily basis. So we want our data to remain private and secure, and it’s natural that companies seek to respond to this market demand. But at the same time, these wonderful technologies are also being employed by those who seek to do us great harm… ISIS is recruiting Americans on-line and then directing them to encrypted communication platforms that are beyond the FBI’s ability to monitor, even with a court order...Are there ways that we can provide law enforcement judicially-sanctioned access to these platforms without compromising their overall security? Or are there other potential reforms that could simply shift the balance less dramatically?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The answer to these questions is “no.” The Fourth Amendment is immutable (without amending the Constitution, that is), and the “balance” between privacy and safety shouldn’t be a conversation because nothing is more important than honoring our Constitution and the civil liberties it protects.</p>
<p>Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice, Sally Quillian Yates, who testified at the hearing, and Director at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James B. Comey, <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/07-08-15%20Yates%20and%20Comey%20Joint%20Testimony1.pdf">appealed to fear and emotion by writing</a> that “[w]hen changes in technology hinder law enforcement’s ability to exercise investigative tools and follow critical leads, we may not be able to identify and stop terrorists who are using social media to recruit, plan, and execute an attack in our country.”</p>
<p>However, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) <a href="http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/07-08-15LeahyStatement.pdf">illuminated</a> how he fought against regulation of encrypted technology in the 1990s because of its promise to kill American innovation and business. He explained that today he continues to believe in the ever-changing technology:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Even if the United States were to take steps to facilitate law enforcement access to encrypted communications, we need to evaluate how much it would help. Strong encryption would still be available from foreign providers. Some say that any competent Internet user would be able to download strong encryption technology, or install an "app" allowing encrypted communications – regardless of restrictions on American businesses. But it would put American companies at a disadvantage in the global marketplace.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Encryption technology already exists, and can be accessed by anybody who cares enough to possess it. Criminals, who do not follow regulations, will continue to use encryption technology. So, who will the proposed regulations affect? The rest of us.</p>
<p>Grassley wrote in his statement that law enforcement “must obtain an individualized warrant or court order to conduct a search that would violate a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy.” That warrant must be “issued by a neutral and detached judge based on facts that demonstrate probable cause.”</p>
<p>However, the federal government does not play by these rules. Bulk collection of data by the NSA based on general warrants is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. Regulations on the development of new technology which put a cap on American innovation will not protect us from terrorists, but rather protect the ability of the NSA to spy unconstitutionally on American citizens while ensuring our inability to compete with foreign competitors.</p>
<p>If our government is able to hack our devices, it means outside organizations and governments can access our private information as well. If our encryption standards are weak, malicious groups and individuals who want to hack our technology win. In effort to make us safer, our government will actually be making us more vulnerable, because it is impossible to make technology only hackable by the “good guys.” In the words of Ben Franklin, “[p]eople willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.” We should all be skeptical of government regulation and spying.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Read more about privacy</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 18:12:12 +0000sgompper61718 at http://www.freedomworks.orgFW Activists: Stop Lying about the ExIm Bankhttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/fw-activists-stop-lying-about-exim-bank
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) decided to allow an amendment to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank to be attached to the transportation bill Friday morning. FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:</p>
<p>"Thank you Sen. Cruz for shining light on Mitch McConnell's lies. He says he opposes the cronyist piggybank that is the Export-Import Bank, but then allows for its reauthorization on to the transportation bill to make sure it passes."</p>
<p>"We are encouraging all our activists to contact Mitch McConnell and tell him to stop selling out America. We don't need a bank to prop up the likes of Boeing and General Electric with taxpayer dollars, and we don't need the our senators lying to us."</p>
<p>Our action alert to activists can be found at: <a href="https://secure.freedomworks.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=1787&amp;s_subsrc=FWsite">https://secure.freedomworks.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=1787&amp;s_subsrc=FWsite</a></p>
<p>FreedomWorks posted a key vote against any reauthorization of the Ex-Im Bank, including any bill its attached to. View the key vote here: <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/key-vote-no-any-re-authorization-ex-im-bank">http://www.freedomworks.org/content/key-vote-no-any-re-authorization-ex-im-bank</a></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Tell Mitch McConnell to Stop Selling out America</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:58:54 +0000ISomberg61717 at http://www.freedomworks.orgCL Bryant chats with Noah Wall about the 9/12 Grassroots Summithttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/cl-bryant-chats-noah-wall-about-912-grassroots-summit
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</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:31:56 +0000CL Bryant61755 at http://www.freedomworks.orgLawsuit seeks to protect innocent property owners from Arizona's unconstitutional forfeiture lawshttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/lawsuit-seeks-protect-innocent-property-owners-arizonas-unconstitutional-forfeiture-laws
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/police-money-policing-for-profit.jpg?itok=-SsCOt-t"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/police-money-policing-for-profit.jpg?itok=-SsCOt-t" width="480" height="284" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Arizona's civil asset forfeiture laws lack any real protections for law-abiding citizens and their property. In direct contradiction with the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which guarantee the right of due process, the property owner, who may never be charged with a crime, bears the burden to prove that his property is innocent before he can get it back. That is why the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) <a href="https://www.aclu.org/cases/cox-v-voyles-et-al">has filed a lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of Arizona's forfeiture laws</a>.</p>
<p>In August 2013, Rhonda Cox let her son, Chris, borrow her truck. While in the parking lot of a store, Pinal County Sheriff’s Department deputies connected the truck's hood and bed cover with a reported theft. Deputies arrested Cox's son and seized the truck because it was connected to the alleged crime.</p>
<p>Rhonda arrived at the scene and asked a deputy when she would receive her truck back. Even though she was an innocent owner, she was told she would never get her property back. Unlike criminal proceedings, where a defendant is appointed an attorney if they cannot afford one, Rhonda was left to fight the forfeiture in civil court on her own. She had to pay a $304 filing fee just to contest the forfeiture, in proceedings where the burden of proof fell on her. The legal hurdles and intimidation proved to be insurmountable.</p>
<p>"With the help of Defendant [Pinal County Attorney Lando] Voyles’s deputy, Defendant [Deputy Craig] Cameron, the Sheriff’s department, despite knowing that the Truck belonged to Rhonda and despite knowing that she had absolutely nothing to do with the theft, initiated proceedings against the Truck under the Forfeiture Laws seeking to forfeit the Truck," <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/field_document/cox_v._voyle_et._al.-_stamped_complaint.pdf">the lawsuit explains</a>. "Rhonda, unable to afford a lawyer, tried to fight the seizure on her own through a series of phone calls, emails, and filings in court. Eventually, threatened by Defendant Cameron with having to pay the State’s attorneys’ fees if she lost her fight for the Truck, she gave up."</p>
<p>According to the recent FreedomWorks publication, <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/267761329/Civil-Asset-Forfeiture-Grading-the-States"><em>Civil Asset Forfeiture: Grading the States</em></a>, Arizona earned a "D-" for its onerous civil asset forfeiture laws. As noted, the burden of proof falls on the property owner, who, like Rhonda Cox, may be innocent, and the government may forfeiture property based on a very low standard of proof. A perverse profit motive exists, as law enforcement can keep up to 100 percent of forfeiture proceeds.</p>
<p>Civil asset forfeiture has been a lucrative business for state and local law enforcement in Arizona. "According to the <a href="http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/cdm/ref/collection/statepubs/id/4391">most recent Forfeiture Monies Report compiled and submitted by the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission</a> as of the date of this filing," the lawsuit notes, "the Attorney General Master Account held $16,653,523; the Attorney General Individual Account held $15,423,990; the County Attorney Master/Pooled Account held $43,233,148; and Local Agencies held $9,508,052." Additionally, state and local law enforcement in Arizona <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2015/04/10/arizona-law-enforcement-seized-assets-big-money/25536637/">have spent more than $57 million in federal Equitable Sharing payments</a> from forfeitures through federal law since 2008.</p>
<p>The ACLU's lawsuit argues that Arizona's civil asset forfeiture laws are unconstitutional because of the profit motive and the violation of Cox's due process rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The lawsuit also argues that the $304 filing fee to contest the forfeiture is a violation of her First Amendment rights.</p>
<p>Regardless of the result of the lawsuit, Arizona legislators must take a serious look at reforming the state's civil asset forfeiture laws. The burden of proof should always -- absolutely always -- fall on the government. Additionally, <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/its-historic-day-private-property-rights-new-mexico-more-work-ahead-restore-fifth-amendment">as New Mexico has done</a>, a criminal conviction should be required before the government can forfeit property, though, at the very least, the standard of proof should be raised to "clear and convincing evidence." Lawmakers should also end the perverse profit motive that is often behind the seizure of law-abiding citizens’ property.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">From High Seas to Highway Robbery: How Civil Asset Forfeiture Became One of the Worst Forms of Government Overreach</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 16:00:28 +0000jpye61716 at http://www.freedomworks.orgThe Chamber vs. the Good Guyshttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/chamber-vs-good-guys
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/BN-HJ966_JimJor_G_20150313112430.jpg?itok=kaDMSDi_"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/BN-HJ966_JimJor_G_20150313112430.jpg?itok=kaDMSDi_" width="480" height="320" alt="Jim Jordan, and the Freedom Caucus he founded, are under attack." /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Mahatma Gandhi is reported to have said: “First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they attack you. Then you win.” It’s hard not to feel like the freedom movement is entering stage three. That is encouraging, insofar as it moves us closer to stage four, but it’s nevertheless a challenge, and one we should take seriously.</p>
<p>When the tea party was first formed in 2009, the mainstream media at first tried to pretend it didn’t exist. When that became impossible, the ridicule started, with endless caricatures of activists as racist, sexist, hillbilly loons. But that tactic has failed, and every election cycle we are seeing greater gains in the number of congressmen who take seriously the idea of shrinking government and restricting federal power. Now, the attacking begins in earnest.</p>
<p>With the formation of the House Freedom Caucus and its willingness to stand on principle making headlines all around the country, the lobbyist wing of the Republican Party, the K Streeters who see people with integrity as a threat to the filthy lucre they can extract from government, are <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/07/chamber-of-commerce-republican-incumbent-congress-120557.html#ixzz3gog4yA1y">preparing to spend millions</a> in an effort to unseat those Members of Congress they can’t control.</p>
<p>The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is among the worst offenders in this regard, consistently attacking Republicans who fight for free markets, despite the organization’s allegedly “pro-growth” agenda.</p>
<p>A member of the Chamber’s public affairs committee summed up their plans to fund primary challengers to House Freedom Caucus members:</p>
<p>“The fact that there are still members of the Republican House that are obstructionist, isolationists that would be willing to shut down the government down only reinforces that the Chamber and the business community, for that matter, will double down on this winning formula.”</p>
<p>In other words, anyone who doesn’t fall unquestioningly in line with leadership needs to be taken out. This is the kind of attitude that has so damaged the Republican brand over the years. If the Party wants to be seen as anything other than a tool of corporate welfare, it should be embracing these brave warriors for freedom instead of trying to destroy them.</p>
<p>At FreedomWorks, we’re making it a priority to support and defend the House Freedom Caucus from attacks like these. It’s bad enough they have to deal with Democrats who want to increase government spending, raise taxes, and block any kind of meaningful reforms. It’s even worse to be stabbed in the back by their own Party. In this environment, it’s more important than ever that we stand up for these Members and make sure the establishment fails in its efforts to squash all dissent.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Send a message to congress!</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 14:22:23 +0000logan.albright61715 at http://www.freedomworks.orgCuomo's Minimum Wage Proposal Manages to Make a Bad Idea Even Worsehttp://www.freedomworks.org/content/cuomos-minimum-wage-proposal-manages-make-bad-idea-even-worse
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/ANdrewCuomo.jpg?itok=LD7MzeX4"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="//d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/styles/large/s3/field/image/ANdrewCuomo.jpg?itok=LD7MzeX4" width="480" height="312" alt="Andrew Cuomo: Architect of bad ideas." /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Despite decades of economic analysis showing that it’s a bad idea, calls to increase the minimum wage continue to be heard from people who think you can mandate prosperity. In the latest, particularly egregious example, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/nyregion/new-york-minimum-wage-fast-food-workers.html?emc=edit_na_20150722&amp;nlid=46711928&amp;ref=cta&amp;_r=2">proposing</a> to raise the minimum wage in his state to $15 an hour, following the <a href="http://www.freedomworks.org/content/seattle-citizens-push-back-minimum-wage">disastrous example</a> of Seattle. The twist? He’s only applying the increase to fast food workers, leaving the minimum wage for other industries as is.</p>
<p>As bad as high minimum wages are when the apply to the whole economy, targeting one particular industry is arguably even worse, due to the distortions such a policy creates. The most basic axiom of economics, apparently ungraspable by public policy makers, is that people respond to incentives. Let’s take a second to think about how mandated higher wage in one industry change the incentives people face.</p>
<p>Workers are the most obviously affected, so we’ll start with them. The prospect of a higher wage will attract low-wage workers from other industries to the fast food business. Suddenly, the local McDonald’s will be flooded with job applications, while other low-wage employers struggle to fill job openings. More job applicants than there are jobs means unemployment, and unemployment means a greater burden on government welfare program, and by extension, the taxpayer.</p>
<p>Now let’s look at the employer side. Employers in the fast food industry will have to make their payrolls stretch further to cover the higher wages. This means they will hire fewer people than they otherwise would, and encourages the replacement of human workers with machines, such as self-checkout stations. This doesn’t only impact current employers, but future ones as well. If you’re making a decision between buying a Burger King franchise or opening a different kind of store where you can pay lower wages, the regulation is certainly going to figure into your calculations. This means fewer fast food establishments, with fewer job openings, which leads to unemployment, which results in a greater burden on government welfare… wait, we’ve been here before, haven’t we?</p>
<p>Both sides of the equation promote the problem of too much labor chasing too little work. Where the goal should be to create a pro-growth environment that will encourage production and innovation, leading to more jobs and higher wages simultaneously, politicians are instead trying to micromanage markets to do the impossible: increase wealth by the sheer force of will.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-button-text field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Learn more about how the minimum wage hurts the poor</div></div></div>Fri, 24 Jul 2015 13:43:09 +0000logan.albright61714 at http://www.freedomworks.org